The Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) is known to operate in the Blida region. Deadly attacks by the GSPC and the Armed Islamic Group (GIA) increased after President Abdelaziz Bouteflika announced in February that Algeria's legislative elections would take place on May 30th. Both extremist groups oppose Algeria's secular government and have rejected a reconciliation policy proposed by Bouteflika to end a decade of Islamic extremist insurgency.
On April 1st, 21 soldiers were killed in an attack blamed on armed Islamic extremists in the Saida region, 430 kilometers south of Algiers. Another 15 were slain on May 5th in northeastern Kabylie province. The extremists have also targeted civilians, killing 34 people during a 24-hour period at the beginning of the month in northwestern Algeria, where the GIA is known to operate.
GIA attacks have increased after the death of its longtime leader Antar Zouabri in a gun battle with security forces on February 8th. The movement appointed a new leader, Rachid Abu Turab, in March. In a statement announcing his appointment, he pledged there would be "neither truce, nor dialogue, nor reconciliation, nor security but blood and blood, destruction and destruction" until an Islamic government was established in Algeria.
The legislative elections held in 1991 were interrupted when it became clear that the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) would win a runoff and set up an Islamic state in Algeria. A government installed by the military subsequently banned the FIS, sparking a civil war that has since claimed some 150,000 lives. The last elections in 1997 produced Algeria's first multi-party assembly but the opposition alleged the vote was marred by fraud.
Some 580 people, including some 180 Islamic militants and 150 members of the security forces, have been killed since the beginning of 2002.
