Algiers - Muslim rebels cut the throats of nine civilians in Algeria on Saturday night, the first such mass killing since the election of the country's new president last month, according to official reports.
Government security forces said the nine were all from shepherd families from Kasni hamlet in Tiaret province, 220 km south-west of Algiers. The statement did not say to which of Algeria's several rebel groups the killers belonged.
The attack was the first reported killing of civilians since the April 15th election of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika.