At least 31 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in separate attacks by suspected Islamist rebels mounting a fresh campaign of terror across Algeria, sources said Saturday.
The swathe of murders since Thursday, including several gruesome throat-slitting at militia road blocks, brings to more than 250 the number of people killed here in July's renewed bout of violence.
Sources here said five people traveling in a truck had their throats slit at a fake checkpoint set up by Islamists, situated on a small road close to Mascara, situated 360 kilometers (220 miles) west of Algiers.
In the district of Skikda, 500 kilometers east of the capital, three soldiers were killed early Friday and six others injured -- two seriously -- in an ambush by another armed group.
Four people, including one woman, meanwhile had their throats slit in Djendel, located in the same region.
According to press reports Saturday, nineteen other people, mostly civilians, were killed and four others wounded since Thursday.
Four people, including a newly married couple, were killed and three others wounded late Thursday at a fake roadblock near Larbaa, just south of Algiers.
An armed group wearing military uniforms stopped three cars and killed the passengers in the first two. Passengers of the third car however noticed that the "soldiers" were wearing non-regulatory red socks, and they managed to flee the trap -- a common terror tool of Islamists since civil war erupted in 1992.
Meanwhile, a family of five was killed near Medea, some 90 kilometers south of Algiers by an armed group early on Thursday.
The parents and their three children, aged between four and 11, had their throats slit and were then burnt as the group set fire to their house.
Also on Thursday a bomb explosion near Medea killed one person, while on Friday three armed civil guards were killed by two armed Islamists in front of a mosque near Sidi Bel Abbes, 440 kilometers southwest of the capital.
On Thursday and Friday, six armed Islamists were killed by security forces in three separate incidents.
Since the beginning of July, Algeria's latest round of violence has left at least than 250 dead, including some 40 armed Islamists, and 60 injured, according to a tally of tolls detailed in press reports - ALGIERS (AFP)
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