Hundreds die, Algeria denies numbers accuracy

Several hundred civilians were burned alive and 117 had their throats cut in two new attacks in western Algeria over the weekend, the Algerian newspaper La Tribune said yesterday.

There were survivors in the village of Had Chekala, in the western Relizane, province, which was razed in an attack overnight on Sunday - Monday, it said without giving an exact figure.

La Tribune said the other massacre, in which it said at least 117 people died, took place on Saturday night at Remka, also in Relizane province, which lies some 150 miles west of Algiers.

The Algerian paper said on Saturday that government troops, backed by paramilitary forces, were hunting those responsible for the earlier violence. They said the troops were scouring Remark forest and Oursenis mountain, Al-Wafd daily reported.

The Algerian government has denied the count published in La Tribune, and asserted that official figures of 103 dead and 70 wounded were accurate, BBC news reported.