DATE=6/25/98 TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT NUMBER=2-234538 TITLE=ALGERIA MASSACRES (L) BYLINE=SCOTT BOBB DATELINE=CAIRO CONTENT= VOICED AT: INTRO: ONE OF ALGERIA'S BEST-KNOWN SINGERS, LOUNES MATOUB, HAS BEEN KILLED NEAR HIS HOME VILLAGE, ACCORDING TO SECURITY FORCES. MR. MATOUB, WHO SURVIVED A KIDNAPPING IN 1994, WAS ONE OF THE LATEST VICTIMS IN THE RECENT WAVE OF VIOLENCE. SECURITY FORCES SAY REBELS HAVE KILLED 17 PEOPLE AND WOUNDED FIVE OTHERS IN AN ATTACK DURING THE NIGHT (EDS: OF WEDNESDAY) ON A VILLAGE SOUTHWEST OF ALGIERS. CORRESPONDENT SCOTT BOBB REPORTS FROM OUR MIDDLE EAST BUREAU IN CAIRO THAT IT IS THE THIRD SUCH MASSACRE IN THE PAST TEN DAYS. TEXT: ALGERIAN SECURITY FORCES SAID THURSDAY IN A STATEMENT THAT AN INTENSE HUNT IS UNDERWAY FOR THE REBELS WHO ATTACKED THE VILLAGE OF HAMMAR EL-HES NEAR THE TOWN OF SAIDA, THREE HUNDRED KILOMETERS SOUTHWEST OF THE CAPITAL. THE STATEMENT ADDED THAT THE VICTIMS WERE KILLED IN A COWARDLY FASHION, A TERM UNDERSTOOD TO MEAN THAT THEIR THROATS WERE CUT. LESS THAN ONE WEEK AGO, 14 PEOPLE WERE REPORTEDLY KILLED IN A SIMILAR ATTACK ON A VILLAGE IN TISSEMSILT PROVINCE, 170 KILOMETERS SOUTHWEST OF ALGIERS. TEN DAYS AGO, 13 PEOPLE DIED IN AN ATTACK ON A HAMLET IN THE MEDEA AREA, 70 KILOMETERS OUTSIDE THE CAPITAL. MEANWHILE, NEWS AGENCIES IN ALGERIA SAY GOVERNMENT FORCES KILLED 23 PEOPLE, INCLUDING 18 MILITANTS AND FIVE CIVILIANS, IN AN OFFENSIVE IN SIDI LANTRI, 250 KILOMETERS SOUTHWEST OF ALGIERS. ALGERIAN NEWSPAPERS SAY THE LATEST WAVE OF VIOLENCE HAS KILLED AN ESTIMATED 260 PEOPLE IN THE PAST FEW WEEKS. ALGERIA HAS BEEN IN A VIRTUAL CIVIL WAR SINCE 1992, WHEN THE MILITARY CANCELLED NATIONAL ELECTIONS IN WHICH ISLAMIC MILITANTS HELD A WIDE LEAD. JOURNALISTS ESTIMATE 60,000 PEOPLE HAVE DIED IN THE VIOLENCE SINCE THEN. MANY OF THEM HAVE BEEN OFFICIALS AND PROMINENT MEMBERS OF SOCIETY. BUT IN RECENT YEARS, THE VIOLENCE HAS FOCUSED INCREASINGLY ON RURAL POOR, LIVING IN REMOTE VILLAGES FAR FROM THE MAIN CITIES. (SIGNED) NEB/SB/KL/GE 25-Jun-98 12:33 PM EDT (1633 UTC) NNNN Source: Voice of America .
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