The British parliamentary human rights group, taking evidence on Algeria, has heard detailed testimony from a man describing himself as a former Algerian secret policeman. The former officer said the authorities in Algiers are deeply implicated in the continuing massacres. The man alleged that the armed Islamic extremists blamed by the government for the killings had been systematically infiltrated by secret servicemen. Earlier, the Algerian Prime Minister, Ahmed Ouyahia, accused Iran of supporting the extremists. The BBC's Foreign Affairs correspondent, Fergus Nicoll, attended the parliamentary hearings:

A former prime minister, journalists, doctors and refugee workers appeared before the human rights group, a small cross-party body that seeks to influence foreign policy. All were highly critical of the authorities in Algiers but the most compelling evidence came from a man describing himself as a former secret police officer with fourteen years of government service.

Speaking to the BBC on condition of anonymity, he said many of the killings had been carried out by an elite government force of more than a thousand men - well-trained, well-armed, special units within the secret service under direct orders to arrest and kill. Commenting on the government's claim that massacres are carried out by Iranian-sponsored extremists of the Armed Islamic Group, or GIA, he said the GIA had been infiltrated long ago and was used by elements of the Algerian military to kill top Islamic activists, journalists and civilians.

These infiltrators, he alleged, received their orders directly from the head of the secret service. The number of the dead would rise, he said, when so far undiscovered mass graves were exposed.

Such evidence directly contradicts the Algerian government position that the Islamic extremists are acting alone in tearing the country apart. As the casualty lists climb, so European politicians are taking ever greater interest in the crisis.

Britain, currently occupying the EU presidency, wants Algeria to top the agenda at next week's Foreign Ministers' meeting in Brussels. European public opinion is pushing for an end to the bloodshed.