Muslim rebels killed 23 civilians, including at least seven women, one baby and two girls, by cutting their throats in two attacks this weekend, an Algerian newspaper said yesterday. Liberte also reported that the Algerian army, on a three-week offensive against Muslim guerrillas near Algiers, said troops had shot dead at least 35 rebels.
About 20 rebels killed 14 people - members of two families - early on Sunday in Souidani Boudjemaa village near Boufarik town, some 30 km south of Algiers, and then set their bodies ablaze, Liberte said, quoting survivors. Among the dead were seven women, a baby and two girls, aged eight and 12, it said.
A 17-year-old boy survived the massacre by jumping through a window of his home and fleeing. "They broke open my door and took with them all that they could carry. If only they had spared the lives of my neighbours," an elderly man said.
Hours later, rebels cut the throats of nine civilians they caught at a fake roadblock they erected on Sunday near Ksar el Boukhari town, about 80 km south of Algiers, Liberte said.
La Tribune newspaper also reported the slaughter of the 14 people, saying they were the only two families who had stayed in Souidani Boudjemaa village. Others, fearful of being caught in the wave of massacres, had moved to nearby towns for safety.
Thirteen workers were wounded on Sunday when the truck they were travelling on ran over a mine planted on the road they routinely took to get to work in El Gor area in the western province of Tlemcen, La Tribune said, without giving further details.
In Bonn, leaders of Algeria's banned Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) called yesterday for a total boycott of this month's local elections.
The party's foreign executive said in a statement the October 23rd vote would contribute nothing towards stopping Algeria's civil war.
Hundreds of civilians have been killed in recent weeks in massacres linked to Islamic extremist groups seeking to overthrow the secular, military-backed government.
"Instead of genuine and prompt action towards stopping the bloodletting, the government is foisting elections on Algerians which will serve no purpose," the statement said.
The FIS insists that "absolute priority be given to stopping the bloodshed through a global and just political solution within the framework of global national reconciliation."
The party executive said its call was aimed at pushing the government to a shift in policy towards "a real solution awaited with impatience by Algerians".
"The holding of elections in the current circumstances only amounts to another missed opportunity and, as a result, does not serve the interests of the Algerian people," the statement said.
Several opposition parties have called for the local elections to be put back because of an upsurge in violence, but the government has ruled out any postponement and said the vote would go ahead peacefully.