Nine people, including eight children, have been found murdered in northern Algeria, after they were taken hostage by armed Islamist fighters earlier this week, press reports said Sunday.
The bodies of the victims, including a father and his five children, were found Saturday, their throats slit, in a derelict house near Tissemsilt, 200 kilometres (120 miles) southwest of Algiers, several papers said.
The victims had been kidnapped on May 1, May 7.
Meanwhile, government troops killed 36 armed militants in
The latest round of violence in regions east and west of the Algerian capital, the press reported on Saturday.
La Tribune said 20 armed men of al-Salaf Group of Hassan Hattab were killed in an army military operation in the wooded region of al-Zabarbar last week in Buwairah, 100 km east of Algiers.
It quoted security sources as saying that the army troops stormed hideouts of the extremists in mountains adjacent to al-Midiah and killed a field commander, called Abu Dajanah.
Army helicopters took part in the combing operation, where 50 gunmen are believed to be entrenching.
Al-Khabar daily said that 14 people have been killed in the ongoing army combing operation in the mountainous region of al-asfour, close to the Algerian-Moroccan border.
This operation targeted al-Tawheed Battalion, which groups diehard fighters, followers of Antar al-Zawabri. Several other people were killed or hurt in other clashes and operations in various parts of the country. Some 100,000 people have been killed since the hardline groups staged a violent campaign against the state in 1992 – (Agencies)
