At least 40 people, mostly civilians, were killed in Algeria in a new series of attacks over the past three days, Algerian newspapers said yesterday. Most of The killings took place in the area known as the "triangle of death", between Algiers, Larba and Blida.
Among the dead were at least eight "terrorists" - Algeria's term for fundamentalist rebels - killed by security forces in Blida province. There was no official confirmation of the deaths.
El Watan newspaper said security forces had trapped since Monday night some 100 terrorists in the Hamam Melouane-Larba region in Blida. The military operation follows one in July when newspapers claimed 300 rebels were killed.
El Watan said that in one attack on the night of Tuesday-Wednesday nine people, including three women and three children, were killed in Oued Slama village in Blida.
According to El Watan the attackers mined paths to the houses, leaving only one clear to use later. However, caught by surprise by security forces, they were forced to use the one passage they had planted with bombs. "Several explosions were heard by residents who said all the the group had been killed," the newspaper reported.
Liberte and the influential Arab-language paper, Al Khabar, reported nine people killed between Larba and Sidi Moussa the same night. Al Khabar said security forces had killed some of the group.
Liberte and Al Khabar said that on Monday night 11 people were assassinated in Medkhoussa, near Tiaret, some 225 km south-west of Algiers. All had their throats cut.
In an attack in Dahmouni some 20 km from Tiaret, four young men were killed on Monday, the two newspapers said.
The latest killings follow the slaughter of up to 110 civilians reported on Tuesday, and bring to well over 1,000 people the number killed since the general elections on June 5th.
El Watan said yesterday that one of the terrorists trapped in Blida was Mustapha Kartali, emir of Larba and a one-time mayor of Larba, elected in 1990 as an Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) candidate. After being ousted by the government he joined the Armed Islamic Group (GIA), which he later quit in a conflict with the then leader, Djamel Zitouni. - (Reuter)