A 12th person has died following a weekend ambush by Islamic extremists near the Algerian capital Algiers, the official APS agency reported today.
The initial death toll had been 11 dead and nine wounded in the attack Saturday on a main road near Medea, 80 km south of Algiers.
The 12th victim, who had been shot in the stomach, died in a Medea hospital.
Witnesses said today the assailants had fired machine guns on several cars including a taxi late yesterday.
Armed groups in the area often set up roadblocks, and a similar attack in May 2000 claimed 24 lives.
The Armed Islamic Group (GIA) is known to operate in the area, which has seen an increase in attacks blamed on Islamic extremists in recent weeks.
Since the beginning of the year 150 people, around 70 of them armed Islamists, have been killed in the country's civil war, according to a total compiled by local media and official sources.
The violence is blamed on the GIA and the hardline Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), which both have rejected President Abdelaziz Bouteflika's reconciliation efforts.
Last year, at least 1,900 people were killed while an estimated 150,000 people have been killed since 1992.
The civil conflict began after the military-backed regime cancelled elections in 1992 after it became clear that the now-banned Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) would win and seek to set up an Islamic state.
AFP