Eleven Algerian civilians were massacred by what the government describe as Islamist extremists Saturday, according to reports.
Locals told the Kuwaiti news agency (KUNA) that the massacre took place shortly before midnight in al-Midia state, some 80 kilometers south of Algiers, where gunmen stormed a neighborhood, climbed roofs of houses and opened fire killing the 11 people, including an infant, and seriously wounding three women.
The BBC radio report said that only two of a 13-member family survived as they hid in the basement of their house where the attack took place.
The radio added that it was apparent that the assailants knew the family well because they had a good idea about the house, including a secret outlet that was meant to be used in such emergencies, but the gunmen used this very entrance to storm the house.
This is the second massacre in this neighborhood, as 17 students were killed in an attack against a high school in Muslims' holy month of Ramadan. Tally of slain people during January amounted to over 100 people, according to KUNA, citing independent sources.
More than 100,000 Algerians have been killed in the violence that erupted in 1992 after the army denied Islamists their landslide parliamentary victory – Albawaba.com
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