33 Algerian Militants Reported Slain

Government forces killed the leader of an Islamic militant faction and 32 of his followers blamed for village massacres south of Algiers, newspapers reported Saturday.

Amir Ayoub’s faction was part of the Armed Islamic Group, considered the most radical underground group fighting to topple Algeria’s military-backed government.

The papers gave no details of the raid on the group around the town of Chebli, about 20 miles south of the capital.

There was no official confirmation of the killings. They were thought to have occurred Thursday and Friday as part of a government offensive south of Algiers where attackers have terrorized villages, shooting and beheading residents. Villagers largely blame Ayoub’s faction for the attacks, which have killed 180 civilians in a little more than two weeks.

Security forces have redoubled their efforts to clean up the region before June 5 legislative elections, the first since the army canceled a January 1992 vote that the Islamic Salvation Front was poised to win. That action triggered an uprising by Islamic militants.