EU mission arrives in Algeria

A European Union delegation is in Algeria for talks about the continuing mass killings, which the government blames on Islamic extremists.

A British deputy foreign minister, Derek Fatchett, who heads the delegation, said they had come to express Europe's profound concern and to offer help.

A BBC Correspondent in Algiers says the mission is not expected to make much impact, but the authorities are likely to take the opportunity to demand action against Islamic militants in Europe.

Human rights activitists are pressing for an independent inquiry into the killings, which they partly blame on the government.

The four delegation members are not due to be shown the sites of the massacres, although they are to meet newspaper editors, whose reports have put the death toll at more than one-thousand during the past three weeks -- much higher than government figures.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service