PARIS Algerian security forces have killed 88 Muslim guerrillas over the past week in operations carried out in four rebel strongholds, a leading Algerian newspaper reported yesterday. At least 18 other rebels were killed in fighting between guerrilla factions, El Watan reported.
Security forces, in simultaneous operations in Medea and the mountainous Chrea regions, killed 60 guerrillas, the report said. More than 150 villagers had been murdered in the past four months in Chrea and Medea in suspected Muslim guerrilla raids, including 33 people hacked to death 11 days ago in Kerrach in Chrea area, 50 km south of Algiers. On Thursday and Friday, 23 guerrillas were killed in Magtaa Kheira village, 60 km south west of Algiers.