Most violent crime in Algeria since Bouteflika's elections

Algerian security forces announced on Sunday that an armed group slaughtered some 29 persons on Saturday night in an attack which is the most violent since the election of Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika last April.

In a statement, the Algerian security forces said that "a group of terrorists" committed the massacre in Bu Eish village in Bashar district, 750 km southwest of the capital, adding that the "security forces together with the relief force moved immediately to the stage operation to help give necessary aid to the victims of this barbaric act, whose perpetrators are being chased intensively."

The statement did not give more details about the massacre, its conditions or the identity of the criminals, but indicated that three other persons were wounded.

No side claimed responsibility for this massacre. The crime was committed in a province which enjoys, like other Algerian desert provinces, quiet and had few acts of violence.

This new crime comes at a time when Bouteflika is trying to convince the Algerians to accept a national reconciliation plan including the pardoning of armed Islamists who did not take part in killings or rapes or explosions.