Algiers

An armed band killed 45 people in a predawn attack Wednesday that was the bloodiest massacre in Algeria in months, security forces said. Separately, authorities said Wednesday that they had pulled 46 bodies from a 180-foot-deep well used as a mass grave in Meftah, 15 miles south of central Algiers. Many more victims remain in the mass grave, which could be up to 2 years old. Security forces blamed Wednesday's massacre in Tadjena, about 125 miles west of Algiers, on Muslim insurgents.

A bomb killed at least 16 people and wounded 61 as it ripped through a crowded open-air market in a suburb of the Algerian capital Friday, security forces said. The official Algerian Press Service reported that the dead included three children. Witnesses said many of the wounded were taken by private vans and trucks to hospitals.

The United States and a number of European nations have taken the unusual step of suggesting an international inquiry into the terrorism that has claimed at least 60,000 lives in Algeria since 1992. The sniffy response from the military-backed regime in Algiers is that what has been going on is an internal matter and outside intervention is unwanted. An internal affair it may technically be.

Algeria's bloody insurgency showed no sign of abating despite one militant group's cease-fire, with witnesses Saturday reporting 105 people killed in a 48-hour spree of massacres and bombings. Four days after the Islamic Salvation Army began its truce, attacks characteristic of the rival Armed Islamic Group targeted schools, apartment buildings and a wedding, with dozens of children among the victims.

They grabbed one teacher by the hair and sliced her throat with a sword, sending blood gushing from her neck, witnesses said. Before the spasm of violence was complete, the militants had slashed and shot 11 other teachers to death--as disbelieving and petrified students looked on.

Armed assailants killed at least 60 people in a mountain village about 40 miles south of Algiers, the capital, France Info radio and LCI television reported. The dawn massacre in Beni Ali brought to more than 100 the number of people slain since the weekend in bombings and massacres. All the attacks are believed to be the work of Islamic militants who have battled the government since it canceled 1992 elections to block a probable victory by an Islamic party.

Attackers have killed more than 80 people in remote villages south of the capital in recent days, many of whom had their throats slit, witnesses and hospital sources said. The attacks coincided with a flare-up of violence in Algiers and bore the hallmarks of Islamic militants. In Sidi el Madani, about 30 miles south of the capital, 38 people were killed overnight Thursday, witnesses said.

Belying government claims that Algeria is returning to peace, Islamic militants slit the throats of 32 civilians and then beheaded some of them, independent newspapers reported. Armed with sabers and axes, the attackers wreaked havoc Wednesday in a village near Ksar el Boukhari, about 70 miles south of Algiers, two French-language dailies reported. The newspapers said the victims, including 16 women, came from four families.

A band of men armed with knives and axes decapitated 31 people who had been forced into the streets from their homes in Medea, south of the capital, the El Watan newspaper reported Sunday. The attack by about 50 men took place early Saturday, the newspaper quoted local residents as saying. El Watan said a Medea resident called the paper, saying, "You have to do something. More than 30 people had their throats slit. Soon they're going to exterminate the entire town."

A car bomb exploded Sunday outside a downtown cafe, killing at least 21 people and wounding dozens just hours after attackers massacred 36 villagers south of the capital. A second explosion was reported Sunday near Reghaia, about 15 miles east of Algiers, residents said. There were reports of injuries, but no details. Government security forces who requested anonymity said they dismantled at least six car bombs in the Algiers area.