ALGIERS, 25 September 2005 — Al-Qaeda-aligned Islamic militants have killed 10 people, including seven soldiers, in separate ambushes in Algeria, newspapers reported yesterday. The attacks came a week ahead of a national referendum on a partial amnesty aimed at rebels fighting for an Islamic state.
Suspected rebels detonated a homemade bomb on Thursday killing seven soldiers and their civilian driver in the Jijel province, some 350 km east of the capital Algiers, newspapers, including El Watan, said citing unnamed sources.
A patrol was lured into an ambush near Selma Benziada some 360 kilometers east of the capital Algiers, media reports said, citing security forces. Seven soldiers and a driver were killed by the attackers, believed to belong to the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC).
In another attack, some 25 heavily armed militants staged a fake roadblock and cut the throats of two civilian after stopping their car on a road in the east province Skikda. Human rights organizations have complained that family members of those that were abducted — mostly by the military — were beaten and arrested by police in Algiers, Oran and Constantine during President Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s campaign.
Almost one million Algerians living abroad got the chance to vote from yesterday on the referendum. Voting on the charter for peace and reconciliation by the 903,727 Algerian voters registered abroad, including 761,753 in France, takes place from yesterday to Thursday, while voting in Algeria proper opens next Thursday.
The charter would end legal proceedings against Islamic extremists “who have already halted their armed activity and surrendered to the authorities” but exclude “those involved in mass massacres, rapes and bomb attacks in public places.” There was a festive atmosphere as hundreds of Algerians converged on a sports center in France’s southern city of Marseille to vote. “It is very important for us, for our children to be able to go home in tranquility,” Lalia Benabdelkader, one of the voters told AFP.
