58 Killed in 2 Algerian Massacres

Suspected Muslim rebels killed 58 civilians in Algeria in two separate massacres Thursday night, officials and medical sources said Friday.

The official Algerian Press Service said that 47 people were massacred in the Djelfa area and that 11 were killed in Saida province.

APS also reported six “terrorists” killed by security forces in clashes in Mascara province Thursday night.

Algeria’s official media usually use the term “terrorists” to describe Muslim rebels, blamed by the government for six years of violence in the country.

APS also reported four rebels killed by security forces in Relizane province but gave no details.

An Algerian doctor said by telephone that eight women had been abducted by the attackers.

Another source said the attackers burned down homes in a village in Djelfa province and killed livestock belonging to the local peasants.

An Algiers resident said earlier that at the start of the month “19 civilians were killed by terrorists” in the Ain Defla region, about 75 miles southwest of Algiers, including children and women killed with hatchets and knives.

Earlier this week, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Bill Richardson, urged Algeria to open its doors to human rights investigators for a probe into what he described as “monstrous crimes.”

Algerian Foreign Minister Ahmed Attaf has repeatedly dismissed suggestions that U.N. experts should investigate the killings in the country, saying that there is “no human rights problem” in Algeria.