The French authorities are worried that the football World Cup may provide a high-profile opportunity for an attack by Islamic militants who resent French policy towards the conflict in Algeria.

More than two million people are expected in France to attend the games starting on June 10th.

Kirsten Schulze from London School of Economic: "Islamic groups would like to get into TV and radio" (1'32")

On Tuesday, suspected Algerian Islamic militants were arrested in a series of European operations to prevent potential attacks before the start of the football World Cup in France. Thousands of police mounted raids in France, Italy, Belgium and Germany.

Scores of French citizens have already been killed as a result of the political turmoil in Algeria. Most were killed in attacks against foreigners carried out by suspected Islamic militants inside Algeria.

But at least eight were blown up in a series of bombings carried out by the Algerian Armed Islamic Group (GIA) in Paris and Lyon in the summer of 1995. The attacks triggered a large scale security operation which resulted in arrests and convictions but which also exacerbated tensions between France's large North African community and the police.

Nulling of the 1992 election

France pulled out of Algeria in 1962, after years of fighting with the FLN (National Liberation Front) movement.

Army took control in the 1992 elections

The FLN rode to power on the crest of a wave of national euphoria and the economy picked up with the discovery of significant quantities of oil.

But by the late 1980s, years of one-party rule, mismanagement, economic stagnation and widespread corruption led to growing resentment, which created grounds and support for the Islamic fundamentalist movement.

The meteoric rise of the FIS (Islamic Salvation Front) terrified the ruling FLN and their friends in the Algerian army.

With the FIS heading for victory in the 1992 general election, the army declared the election null and void, banned the FIS and set up a High Council of State which bypassed the democratic process.

Tens of thousands killed

There was widespread international criticism. But economic sanctions were not forthcoming and the perceived acquiescence of the west, and France in particular, has been a source of deep resentment among the Islamists.

Initially Islamic militants concentrated their attacks on the Algerian security forces. But slowly, as the government met violence with repression, they also attacked politicians, pro-government journalists and civilians.

Many people in Algiers have met an early grave

The spiral of violence has claimed between 60,000 and 80,000 lives since 1992.

Many of the massacres have been blamed by the authorities on the GIA. It is the most extremist and violent of the Islamic groups operating in Algeria.

But supporters of the Islamic rebels have denied involvement in many of the massacres and there have been dark rumours about the army's involvement.

French-Algerian relations: complex and sensitive

Although Algeria fought a long and bloody war to gain its independence from France, Paris has remained the most important foreign partner of Algiers.

In recent years, France has led European policy towards Algeria, and Algerian Islamists blame it for Europe's failure to take a strong line towards the regime in Algiers which they regard as illegitimate.

Algerian Islamists have bitterly criticised what they perceive to be French support for the group of senior Algerian army officers, who cancelled the 1992 elections.

After that, France took up Algeria's cause with the International Monetary Fund and was instrumental in helping it to secure new credit.