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Seventy-eight Algerian civilians were slain Tuesday night and early Wednesday, radio reports said Wednesday.
Algerian state radio and the official news agency APS, quoting government statements, said the 78 were killed in three hamlets in the western province of Relizane, which is 150 miles from Algiers.
Government security forces blamed the killings on “terrorists”–the term used for Muslim extremists.
The massacre brought to more than 400 the number of civilians killed at roadblocks, in village raids and in bombings in the past nine days.
The brief government statements gave no details on the killings. The extremists usually cut the throats or hack to death their victims, including women, children and elderly men.
