The killing in Algeria has continued unabated despite June's general election. An estimated 65,000 people have been murdered in the last six years, including countless innocent civilians.

Since 1992, when the authorities cancelled the country's first free elections - which would have been won by the opposition Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) - the country has been engulfed by an orgy of violence between the army and Islamic militants whose cruelty has few present-day parallels anywhere.

An estimated 65,000 people have been murdered in Algeria in the past 6 years

A recent report by Amnesty International, the human rights organisation says violence in Algeria has taken a new and terrifying turn. Pierre Sane, Amnesty's Secretary-General, said : "To our knowledge there is no other human rights situation that is so tragic, but which has failed to attract any action taken in a concerted way by the international community."

There is a mood of deep despair among ordinary Algerians who are caught between opposing forces. They have no jobs, little to eat; their future prospects are bleak. One man expressed the sense of desperation and hopelessness: "One moment you're out looking for bread or doing some shopping - the next you're blown away just like that - it's everywhere."

The Algerian government's decision to hold a general election in June did nothing to diminish the violence. The poll, which was won by parties close to President Liamine Zeroual, was in any case seen as fraudulent. The FIS was again banned from taking part and other opposition parties rejected the results.

Mr Zeroual and his allies who also won local elections later in the year, presented the results as a return to democracy - but the violence continued with the same ferocity as before.
 

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