Traffic Ban Set; Violence Continues

Authorities imposed a traffic ban in the capital to try to thwart car bomb attacks blamed on Muslim fundamentalists fighting to topple the military-backed government. The daily ban from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. in Algiers is seen as the first move in a long-awaited strategy to counter bombings, mostly in the capital, and massacres in isolated hamlets just outside. Meanwhile, in the latest in a wave of bloodshed, about 20 attackers slit the throats of nine family members--mostly women and children--in a village 60 miles south of Algiers. About 60,000 people have been killed nationwide since 1992.