950826

Nine women

slavuhtered

in algeria

PARIS: Suspected Algerian Moslem militants killed nine women -- beheading six and burning the bodies of three others -- in eastern Algeria, an Algerian newspaper said on Saturday.

The daily Le Matin said most of the victims were wives of communal guards in the village of El Grarem near Mila in eastern Algeria. They were killed during the night of August 19-20.

"Six of the women were found without heads, and three others were found burned," the paper said.

The Algerian newspaper Liberte said militants had also stepped up attacks in the Casbah, the historic old city in the capital Algiers, where five civilians were killed in recent days.

Following the attacks, security forces sealed off the Casbah on Tuesday and interrogated some 300 persons, detainting 20 of them, the paper said.

It said the detainees had helped members of armed groups to hide and provided them with information.

An estimated 40,000 people have been killed in three years of fighting between Moslem militants and Algeria's army-backed government.-Reuter