More violence in Algeria

Reports from Algeria say five workmen have been killed in a bomb explosion in an Algiers suburb.

An Algerian newspaper said two others were seriously injured in the blast, which occured yesterday on a road near Baraki.

In an attack the previous day to the west of Algiers, suspected Islamic militants posing as police were reported to have slit the throats of five traders at a fake road block.

The attacks come about two weeks before the start of the holy month of Ramadan which in previous years has seen an increase in the violence which is reported to have killed more than sixty-thousand people in Algeria since 1992.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service