Fundamentalist Attacks Kill 8 Algeria Police
Islamic fundamentalists killed eight police officers Monday--six of them in an ambush in the Casbah, the ancient quarter of the capital that was a haven for Algerian revolutionaries in past decades.
The assaults on police were the most deadly since the military took power a month ago and indicated a hardening of the fundamentalists’ response to an escalating government crackdown.
In the latest violence, police said, six officers died when their cars were riddled with gunfire near a mosque. The attackers, who police said had fought alongside Muslim guerrillas in the Afghan war, reportedly took refuge in the Casbah after the pre-dawn shootings.
Two other officers were slain Monday by companions of a fundamentalist they were trying to arrest in Bordj Menaiel, 40 miles east of the capital, police said.
On Sunday, the government banned the Islamic Salvation Front, the nation’s largest political party, and declared a state of emergency that gives authorities broad powers to make arrests, ban protests and dissolve local councils.
The actions followed a week of unrest that left more than 40 people dead and 300 injured.
The capital was relatively calm Monday, state radio reported, and schools, businesses and government offices operated normally.
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