Brutality of latest slaughter by the fundamentalists defies quick analysis

IT TOOK time for the true extent of the latest slaughter to be revealed. Yesterday's Algerian newspapers told of 57 civilians killed in the villages of the Beni Slimane region. At Sidi Abdelaziz, 50 armed men entered a mosque during Saturday morning prayers and proceeded to hack 49 worshippers to death. The five murder victims at Bouchrahil died with their throats slashed. Three others were killed at Ain Boucif.

The weekend murders were committed by followers of Sayah Attiya - an Armed Islamic Group (GIA) leader killed recently by security forces. Attiya is believed responsible for the beheading of seven French monks in the same region last year.

In Belcourt, the old French working class neighbourhood of Algiers where Albert Camus grew up, 23 people were killed by the booby trapped car which exploded on Sunday evening. Life in the capital has become unbearable, residents contacted by telephone said. "They only attack us - the poor people in the poor neighbourhoods," a secretary moaned down the phone to me. "I pray more often now, because I'm afraid of dying."

Since the war started five years ago, the fundamentalist guerrillas have stepped up attacks during Ramadan. Until last year, they targeted intellectuals, government employees, journalists and members of the security forces. But recently the massacres and car bombings have been calculated to kill the maximum number of people, without discrimination.

Before the month of fasting began on January 9th, the rebels stuck tracts on the walls of poor areas, warning residents that women who did not wear hidjab (Islamic covering) and men who smoked during Ramadan would be punished.

Young men hawk contraband cigarettes on the pavement of Boulevard Mohammed Belouizdad, where the bomb killed at least 23 on Sunday. Families strolled there in the evening, eating sticky almond pastries after their daily fast. At its most basic level, Sunday's bombing was a reminder to Algerians that they are not observing the strict, Afghan Taliban like interpretation of Islam which the fundamentalists seek to impose.

But there is another reason. Last week, President Liamine Zeroual repeated his determination to fight terrorism. The same night, government troops fired grenades and bazookas in an attack in the Casbah. They claim to have killed a dozen guerrillas, including Farid Hamani, the GIA leader blamed by authorities for the new outbreak of car bombings in the capital.

By striking so arbitrarily in Belcourt on Sunday, the fundamentalists defied the government and proved they are still capable of inflicting grievous harm. And with each such attack the foreign confidence needed by the government to obtain loans and economic aid is eroded.