At least a hundred and sixty villagers are reported to have been killed in the latest violence over the weekend in Algeria. The killings, mainly in the north-west of the country, have apparently been intensifying during the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan which is now underway. Many of the victims of the latest attacks, blamed on Islamic extremists, are women and children. Some had their throats cut or were hacked to death, while others were reported to have been burned alive when their houses were set on fire. Our Middle East correspondent Jim Muir has been monitoring the reports:

Although the Algerian newspapers have varying accounts of exactly what happened where, they agreed that at least a hundred and sixty people, all of them civilians, were killed in this latest wave of massacres in outlying areas. On Saturday night at least a hundred and seventeen villagers were reported butchered when killers struck in the Remka area near where around four hundred other people were reported to have been massacred early last week.

Most of the victims had their throats cut. On Sunday night another village, Had Chekala, was razed to the ground and set on fire.

Reports said there were no survivors; all the inhabitants were either put to the sword or burnt alive. There were no precise figures on the numbers involved there.

These latest atrocities have confirmed fears that the fasting month of Ramadan would see an upsurge in the blood-letting. The Islamic extremists who are being blamed for these attacks regard the holy month as a particularly auspicious time to wage jihad, or holy war.