Death Toll in Algeria Rises to 52 in Pre-Ramadan Violence

Muslim militants slashed the throats of seven people in an Algerian mountain town, authorities said Sunday, raising to 52 the death toll from the latest wave of violence.

The embattled prime minister, in a televised state of the nation address Sunday before parliament, insisted that the nearly 7-year-old insurgency was under control.

A brief government statement said the victims were killed “with savagery” Saturday night in the town of Merad, 60 miles west of Algiers, the capital. The latest wave of attacks began Wednesday.

Hospital officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the militants also shot and wounded five people who tried to flee.

More than 75,000 people have died since the insurgency began in 1992 after the government canceled elections that the Islamic Salvation Front was expected to win.

The latest killings came two weeks before the start of the holy month of Ramadan--a time when violence usually increases in Algeria.

In his two-hour televised talk, Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia argued that the country’s security situation “is constantly improving.”

He has repeatedly drawn derision for having insisted that the insurgency had been reduced to only “residual terrorism.”

An official source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the prime minister was likely to announce his resignation Thursday. Ouyahia is seen as a potential candidate in the April presidential election in which President Liamine Zeroual is not running.

Ouyahia pledged government help for terror victims and for families demanding information on their missing loved ones arrested by security forces.