- Tadjena massacre
Beginning about 9:00 p.m. on
December 8 and continuing until earlyDecember 9 ,1998 , 81 villagers (45 according to the initial reports) were killed by armed groups in the mountain villages of Bouhamed and Ayachiche just north ofTadjena , some 170 km west ofAlgiers , in theChlef region of westernAlgeria (see [http://www.fallingrain.com/world/AG/41/Tadjena.html map] .) The manner of killing is reported to have been notably sadistic, mutilating victims and burning corpses;CNN quoted a survivor as saying that "attackers slashed the throats of children, cutting the arms and legs off one of them and throwing the body in a boiling pot." In addition, 20 women (8 according to initial reports) were kidnapped. Another 7 people had been killed there on the previous night. The massacre took place about ten days before the beginning ofRamadan .The massacre was reported by an MP in a televised parliamentary debate. The massacre site was later visited by the Interior Minister,
Mostefa Bensamour . The authorities announced a manhunt for the murderers responsible on the national radio, and declared that a "terrorist band" was responsible. A nearby mountain was described as a major GIA base; the GIA is thus presumed to be responsible. However (at least as ofDecember 10 1998 ) no group had admitted to the massacre.Tadjena was later subjected to a second smaller massacre on the 25-
26 May 2003 , when 7 people were killed on the 25th and another 14 from a single family on the 26th [http://www.aljazeerah.info/News%20archives/2003%20News%20archives/May%202003%20News/28%20n/Many%20Injured%20as%20Strong%20Tremor%20Hits%20Algeria%20Anew.htm] .ee also
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List of Algerian massacres of the 1990s External links
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/231674.stm BBC]
* [http://www.polkonline.com/stories/121098/int_algeria.shtml AP Report - 10th]
* [http://www.indianexpress.com/ie/daily/19981211/34650234.html AP report - 11th]
* [http://216.239.63.104/search?q=cache:_4Lj8tzao40J:www.turkishdailynews.com/old_editions/12_10_98/for3.htm+tadjena&hl=en AP]
* [http://cgi.cnn.com/WORLD/africa/9812/09/algeria.massacre.02/ CNN - 9th]
* [http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/africa/9812/10/algeria.massacre/ CNN - 10th]
* [http://home.worldcom.ch/~hijra/tajena.html Massacre de Tadjena- Nuit du 8 au 9 décembre 1998] (French, with photos)
* [http://www.humanite.presse.fr/journal/1998-12-10/1998-12-10-430115 Humanite]
* [http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/news/1998/12/981210-algeria.htm Voice of America]
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