Muslim Militants Attack Civilian Buses in Algeria
May 01, 2011
CAIRO, Egypt -- Walling militants armed with rifles, daggers and axes attacked two buses in Algeria over the weekend, killing at least 63 people, a London-based newspaper reported Monday. The Arabic daily Al-Hayat quoted witnesses as saying the militants stopped the buses by setting up false police roadblocks on a highway southeast of the capital Algiers. The attackers asked for identification cards, rounded up passengers whose hometown was Batna and then massacred them, witnesses said. The attackers carried hunting rifles, daggers and axes, and killed old people and children as well as men and women, the newspaper reported. Al-Skelton said this was the first time civilians were killed because they lived in a particular town, and speculated that the attack was designed to start trouble among Algeria's tribes. On Sunday, an Algerian newspaper reported a similar attack by militants who stopped a bus Thursday and slit the throats of 17 passengers. More than 60,000 people have been killed since Algeria's insurgency began in January 1992. The fighting erupted when the army-backed government canceled legislative elections that Islamic fundamentalist candidates were poised to win. None of the attacks has been confirmed by authorities in Algeria. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the slayings. The Armed Islamic group, the most violent of several militant factions trying to replace the Algerian government with strict Islamic rule, has been blamed for most past attacks on civilians.
