Dozens of corpses were unearthed when Algerian government troops laying siege to 180 guerrillas bulldozed a path to give them access to their quarry. The grisly incident was recounted in an Algerian newspaper, El Watan, yesterday. The government troops were part of an offensive against rebels which started 10 days ago, after a woman who had been kidnapped by the guerrillas escaped and gave their whereabouts to the authorities.
About 20 rebels had attacked a hamlet near an underground guerrilla base in Attatba area of Blida province, about 50km (30 miles) south of the capital, Algiers, the newspaper said.
They cut the throats of three women in the attack and abducted the woman who later escaped, who they had handed over to the rebels' leader for sexual abuse, El Watan said.
"At the end of the attack, a gang chief leading the assailants ordered a gunman to cut open a slain woman's thorax and eat her heart. Indeed, he ate the woman's heart before the eyes of horrified women and children," the newspaper added. It said it was not known whether the corpses unearthed by bulldozers when government troops arrived were civilians or rebels.
El Watan said rebel groups operating in the area were notorious for their "extreme cruelty," citing in particular one armed group that had invaded a village and slaughtered three families.
The security forces have so far killed about 140 rebels in their slow offensive, progress in which is hampered by the rugged terrain, El Watan said. Five of the men in particular were "dangerous terrorists" who took part in villagers' massacres and train attacks in the area.
It did not say to which rebel organisations the guerrillas belonged. but L'Authentique newspaper, giving a slightly different version of the huge operation, said they were members of the Armed Islamic Group (GIA).
L'Authentique said GIA leader Antar Zouabri might be among the trapped rebels. The authorities blame the GIA for the massacres of hundreds of villagers in remote hamlets, for bombings mainly in Algiers and the murder of leading intellectuals and journalists.
In a separate operation, security forces were reported to have killed five rebels in Ouled Ali hamlet near Khemis el Khechna, about 40km (20 miles) east of Algiers, on Monday.
Meanwhile, four people were killed and three wounded in a bomb explosion in the north-eastern Algerian town of Makouda, the daily Liberte reported. The remote-controlled device was "probably" targeted at a detachment of community guards. The report did not say whether the dead were guards or civilians.
In London an Arabic newspaper reported that the Algerian army has begun contacts with the chief of the armed wing of the outlawed Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) to seek his surrender.
Al-Hayat, citing a high-level source, said Madani Mezrag, head of the Islamic Salvation Army (AIS), was approached along with his deputy, Aissa Lehlih. Mezrag (37) is one of Algeria's most wanted men, with a reward of 4.5 million dinar (£50,000) posted for his capture.
About 60,000 people have been killed in Algeria since January 1992 when the authorities cancelled a general election in which radical Islamists had taken a huge lead. - (AFP)