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| THE RACE - ISSUE 54 |
July 2002 |
The Toll Rises
Please, remember the families affected by this act of violence in Algeria this week.
A bomb explosion ripped through a market outside Algiers on Friday, killing several people and wounding many others. On Saturday, the death toll climbed to 38. It was the worst killing of civilians in one attack in civil strife-torn Algeria this year.
The blast, on the country's 40th independence anniversary, rocked the market at Larba, 25 km (15 miles) south of Algiers, early in the day when it was packed with shoppers. Larba is located in what Algerians call the "triangle of death" where hundreds of civilians were killed in massacres and bombings before troops moved in to flush out rebels.
A leading newspaper warned on Saturday that the attack could mean that Islamic rebels had recovered lost ground after army swoops.
Two bomb explosions followed the market attack, but no one was killed. One went off at a beach near Sidi Ferruch where senior government officials live, wounding two bathers. Another exploded at a cemetery outside Jijel, 220 km (137 miles) east of Algiers, wounding two.
The bombings came three days after army chief Lieutenant-General Mohamed Lamari declared the government had won its war against the guerrillas.
The French-language newspaper Le Matin said the market bombing could signal the guerrillas had recovered strength.
"The Armed Islamic Group (GIA) is without doubt vanquished according to the official thesis but it is not dead. Worse, it seems that the GIA is rising from the ashes to take the initiative," it said.
The Algerian Team
therace@therace.ws
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