ALGIERS, 9 October 2005 — Eight people were killed, including five armed radicals, earlier this week in Algeria, only days after a national referendum voted for a plan aimed at restoring peace to the north African country, press reports said yesterday. The five Islamists were killed when their car was ambushed by security forces on Wednesday at Oum Toub, in the Skikda region 510 kilometers (320 miles) east of Algiers.
The other three, apparently civilians, were killed in an ambush by an armed group on Thursday in the Ouled Salah mountains of the Jijel region, 360 kilometers east of the capital. President Abdelaziz Bouteflika won near-unanimous support for his controversial plans aimed at ending years of violence in Algeria, according to the official results of the September 29 referendum.
But the radical Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) has rejected the charter, which provides for an amnesty for both rebels and security forces responsible for atrocities, and political opposition groups claim the poll figures were faked.
The GSPC, Algeria’s largest outlawed militant movement, has rejected the offer, according to an Internet statement.
