10 Killed in Mosque Shooting in AlgeriaAssailants wielding automatic weapons opened fire inside a mosque in northern Algeria, killing 10 people and wounding nine others, security forces said Sunday.The attackers were believed to be Islamic militants, according to a statement issued by security forces. The massacre took place during Saturday evening prayers in the city of Arzew, two miles from the North African nation's most important port for oil and gas exports. The industrial zone around the nearby port is heavily guarded and shielded from Algeria's ongoing violence, which is attributed largely to Islamic fundamentalists who have waged a nine-year campaign to try to topple the military-backed government. The surrounding area, however, near the coastal city of Oran, 220 miles west of Algiers, has recently seen a surge in fatal violence. Some 60 people have been killed in the last four weeks in attacks near Oran, which is next to Arzew. Separate attacks in recent days claimed the lives of five people, including four suspected Islamic militants and one civilian. The civilian, a woman, was shot to death on Friday by attackers who entered her home near the town of Boumerdes. They set fire to the woman's car before fleeing, the newspaper El Watan reported. As part of an ongoing crackdown against the violence, security forces killed four suspected Islamic militants found over the last few days in mountain hide-outs near the northern coastal city of Jijel, El Watan reported. More than 100,000 people have been killed since the insurgency broke out in 1992, when the military canceled elections that an Islamic fundamentalist party was set to win. |
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