Islamic Opposition Leader in Algeria Calls for U.N. Talks to End Violence.

A leader of Algeria’s Islamic insurgency urged Sunday that the United Nations open talks to end the deadly conflict between the government and militants.

The appeal from Abassi Madani of the Islamic Salvation Front follows the bloodiest massacre yet in the nation’s five-year insurgency, in which 300 people were slain in a village south of the capital. Friday’s attack was blamed on the Armed Islamic Group.

In his letter, Madani declared that he was willing to “begin a serious dialogue that would put an end to the crisis.”

The declaration was part of an unusally conciliatory message from Madani, who spent six years in a military prison.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan made no public response to the proposal. But Annan urged Algeria’s warring factions to resolve their differences peacefully.

The Foreign Ministry criticized Annan’s remarks, saying they were an “unacceptable interference” in Algeria’s internal affairs.

The government had no immediate reaction to to Madani’s proposal.

In the latest reported violence, seven people were slain in Tiaret, southwest of Algiers, sometime between Friday and Saturday. In Tiemcen, bombs killed three people.