Algerian Islamic students shot dead

More than 1,000 have died in attacks this year

Thirteen students have been killed at a Koranic school by suspected Muslim fundamentalists, the Algerian security forces say.

This is the most abominable crime that has been committed in our region over the last 10 years

Local resident

Another two were killed in a separate incident on Tuesday night at a fake roadblock in the same region of Chlef, 200 km west of the capital, Algiers.

The latest killings bring to more than 50 the number of people killed this month in similar attacks, which the Algerian Government has blamed on the hardline Armed Islamic Group (GIA).

This is the first time religious students have been the target of violence since Islamic militants launched a war against the authorities in 1992, says the BBC's Mohamed Arezki Himeur in Algiers.

'Unthinkable'

The students, aged between 14 and 20, were training to become religious leaders, or imams.

They were lined up against a wall and shot dead.

A fourteenth student was seriously injured, but managed to escape.

Last week's vote passed off peacefully in most of the country

"This is the most abominable crime that has been committed in our region over the last 10 years.

"No-one would have thought that a Koranic school, which teaches God's message, would be the target of such an attack," a local resident told the BBC.

The killings are the first since last Thursday's local elections, which the government had hoped would calm the violence.

More than 1,100 have been killed in attacks since the beginning of this year.

More than 100,000 have died since the violence started 10 years ago, when the authorities cancelled elections Muslim fundamentalists were poised to win.