Algerian rebel chief killed in army raid

The head of a violent Islamist group believed to have killed scores of civilians during a decade-long rebellion has been killed in a clash with government troops, Algerian newspapers reported yesterday.

Rachid Abu Tourab, head of the Armed Islamic Group, was killed on Sunday by the Algerian army during a military operation carried out in the Tamezguida forest, 28 miles south of the capital, Algiers.

Abu Tourab died along with 15 associates, according to Le Matin newspaper, citing sources within the Algerian security service. The government was withholding official confirmation of Abu Tourab's death until military authorities positively identify his body, Liberty newspaper said.

Abu Tourab's group is believed to have orchestrated an attack on a bus near Algiers last month that killed 13 people and injured nine. The attack, which was one of three deadly assaults on buses in three weeks, prompted speculation that Abu Tourab wanted to reinforce the group's image as capable of carrying out killings despite a government crackdown on militants.

Abu Tourab replaced Antar Zouabri, who was killed in February 2001 in an attack by security forces on his hideout.

The decade-old Islamist insurgency in the North African nation has left more than 120,000 people dead. The violence began after the army cancelled 1992 legislative elections because a Muslim fundamentalist party appeared to be heading toward victory.

The Algerian press estimated that 150 people were killed in violence in July alone. In mid-July, Algeria's security forces intensified operations against the Armed Islamic Group and the extremist Salafist Group for Call and Combat, headed by Hassan Hattab. Both groups are on an American blacklist of terrorist organisations.