ALGERIA: Islamist militants killed eight people yesterday in an area of western Algeria where militant Islamist guerrillas are known to operate, state radio said.
The attack took place in the Chlef region, some 200 km west of the capital Algiers, the radio said. No further details were immediately available.
The Armed Islamic Group (GIA) and the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) are fighting Algerian authorities to create a purist Islamist state.
The decade-long violence has left between 100,000 and 150,000 dead and was sparked by the cancellation of elections in 1992 that fundamentalist Islamists were poised to win.
Algeria's armed forces stormed a desert hideout of GSPC rebels earlier this month, freeing 17 European tourists held hostage for more than two months. A further group of 15 adventure holidaymakers remain captive in the Saharan desert.
The GIA became infamous for slitting the throats of victims, and wiping out entire families.
Both rebel groups rejected an amnesty offered in 1999 by President Abdelaziz Bouteflika as part of a national reconciliation drive to put a stop to the slayings.