21 Fundamentalists Slain Over 4 Days, Algeria Says
Algerian security forces killed 21 Muslim fundamentalists over the past four days, including one shot by troops hunting men who slit the throats of two teen-age sisters, Algerian security officers said Saturday.
Algeria’s official news agency APS, received in Tunis and quoting an Algerian security force statement, said 20 armed militants were killed during search operations between Tuesday and Friday in nine villages and cities, including the Algerian capital.
The other man, armed with a shotgun, was killed Thursday by troops seeking suspected militants responsible for the killing of the two sisters, ages 16 and 17, in the eastern region of Oum El Bouaghi, about 230 miles from Algiers.
The security statement did not say if the slain man was directly linked to the murder of the two girls.
Algerian authorities said last week that 20,000 militants had been killed over the past 36 months and that armed militants, seeking to overthrow the government since January, 1992, still have between 3,000 and 4,000 men.
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