Five Algerians die in rebel ambush--papers

ALGIERS, June 22 (Reuters) Islamist fighters trying to thwart a government peace drive shot dead five farmers, slit their throats and burned the bodies, Algerian newspapers reported today.

Survivors said the farmers were among eight people in two vehicles ambushed by a group of rebels on Tuesday in a mountainous area near Blida, 60 km south of the capital Algiers, the dailies El Watan and Liberte said.

The authorities were not immediately available for comment.

The bodies of the victims, aged between 11 and 81, were taken to Blida hospital after survivors alerted government troops, El Watan said.

The newspapers did not identify the attackers beyond saying they were terrorists, but security experts usually blame such attacks on the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), a radical Islamist movement that has rejected offers of amnesty.

The violence in Algeria, an oil and gas exporter, broke out in 1992, when the military-backed authorities cancelled a parliamentary election that radical Islamists were set to win.

The strife has cost up to 200,000 lives and 30 billion dollars in sabotage and other economic losses.

Thousands of Islamist guerrillas surrendered after an amnesty was announced in 2000, and many others have given themselves up under a new amnesty offered by President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, which began in February and expires in August.

Tuesday's ambush was part of a surge in rebel violence this month in which some 13 people have been killed.

But the level of violence have fallen sharply in recent years compared with the last decade, paving the way for the North African country to attract foreign investment and emerge gradually from isolation.

Reuters PR GC1653