Wilaya of Relizane massacres of 30 December 1997
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1997 Relizane massacres | |
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Part of Algerian Civil War | |
Location | Relizane, Algeria |
Date | 30 December 1997 |
Deaths | 272 to 412 villagers |
Algerian massacres in 1997 | ||||||||||
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Massacres in which over 50 people were killed: | ||||||||||
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1998 → | ||||||||||
The Wilaya of Relizane massacres of 30 December 1997 were probably the single bloodiest day of killing in the Algerian conflict of the 1990s. Several members of the population of four villages were killed; the exact number of casualties has varied according to source.
Background
In 1998, Algeria was near the peak of a brutal
On the first day of Ramadan, at about 6:15 pm, assailants, armed with axes and knives, swept down on four farming villages in the Ammi Moussa area, and killed hundreds of people as they sat down to break their fast:
- at Kherarba or Ouled Kherarba or Khrouba or Khourba, 21 (official) or 176 (Liberté) were killed;
- at Sahnoun or Ouled Sahnoun or Ouled Sahnine or Ouled Sahrine or Ouled Sahnine, 29 or 113 were killed;
- at El-Abadel or Al Abadel, 73 (Liberté) were killed;
- at Ouled-Tayeb or Oulad Taieb or Ben Taïyeb or Douar Ouled Tayeb, 28 or 50 were killed.
The attackers killed families indiscriminately in their homes, men, women, children, and babies, beheading some and butchering others. They threw babies over walls, and reportedly even butchered dogs and livestock. They left only at dawn. The assailants were dressed as “
The Algerian government told the
that "On 31 December 1997, a judicial inquiry was opened and on 8 February 1998 the examining magistrate ordered that further investigations be carried out. The legal proceedings continue."Reports of casualties
As a result of the massacre: 78 people (initial official estimate), 252 people (according to Le Matin and El Watan, quoting hospital sources), 272 people (according to the Algerian government's statement to the
See also
- List of Algerian massacres of the 1990s
- List of massacres in Algeria
External links