ALGIERS, Algeria – Attackers believed to be Islamic militants killed 16 people, including eight children, in an assault Wednesday on nomadic families, the official Algerian news service reported.
The massacre occurred near Tiaret, about 220 miles west of the North African nation’s capital, the APS agency said.
No group claimed responsibility, but the Armed Islamic Group, Algeria’s most radical insurgency movement, is active in the region. On Sunday, assailants killed three shepherds nearby.
More than 120,000 people have died in Algeria’s Islamic insurgency, which broke out in 1992 when the army canceled elections that a fundamentalist party was expected to win.
In an effort to reconcile the North African nation, President Abdelaziz Bouteflika promised amnesty to rebels willing to turn in their weapons. The army has been hunting down those who refused the offer.
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