10 dead in Algeria unrest
2005-09-24 13:32
Algiers - Seven soldiers and three other people have been killed in two attacks in eastern Algeria, attributed by newspapers to Islamic militants, press reports said on Saturday.
The soldiers and a civilian died in an ambush in the Selma mountain region near Jijel, 360km east of the capital Algiers on Thursday, when the militants detonated a bomb and opened fire on the military convoy.
Two other civilians had their throats cut by militants near Tamalous, in the northeastern Skikda region after they were intercepted by a group of 30 militants at a road block.
The Al-Fadjr newspaper said the armed Islamic group also held up a number of travellers on a road, making off with their cellphones and other belongings.
Press reports attributed the attacks to the radical Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) which is reputedly close to the al-Qaeda network.
The GSPC is opposed to President Abdelaziz Bouteflika's proposed charter for peace and reconciliation, which will be put to a referendum on Thursday.
The charter is aimed at ending an Islamic insurgency that began in 1992 when the army cancelled an election that an Islamic party was poised to win, and which has taken about 150 000 lives.
Thursday's attacks were the latest in a series that has left at least 37 people dead since the beginning of the month, including a firefight that killed four members of the security forces last week in the Skikda region.