Gunmen kill eight Algerian policemen

Kabylie has been rocked by violence in the past two weeks

Gunmen have killed eight policemen in an ambush in the Kabylie region of northeastern Algeria.

State television said Islamist militants opened fire on the policemen on Wednesday in the coastal town of Tigzirt, about 120 kilometres (70 miles) east of Algiers, and close to the regional capital Tizi Ouzou.

Tizi Ouzou was the scene of extensive rioting last week in which 80 ethnic Berbers were killed.

The authorities blamed the latest attack, in which two policeman were also injured, on the Salafist Group or GSPC - a radical Islamic group which is known to be active in this area.

It comes two days after the same faction was blamed for a bomb that killed two soldiers.

Different aims

The BBC's North Africa correspondent David Bamford says liberal-minded Berbers and radical Islamists are at opposite ends of the political spectrum.

The GSPC would have been expected to carry out an act of counter-propaganda after the recent publicity for the Berber cause, he says.

The Berbers were the original inhabitants of Algeria until the Arabs conquered North Africa in the 7th century. Living mainly in the mountainous regions, the Berbers call for official recognition of their own language and culture. They make up some 30% of the total population.

Insurgency

Radical Islamists have waged a savage insurgency since 1992, when the government suspended elections which the now-outlawed Islamic Salvation Front seemed set to win.

President Bouteflika is under fire from the Berbers and the Islamists

Although Kabylie is predominantly hostile to the Islamists, there are outlying villages where local people have always refused to accept the liberal trends of Berber nationalism. Some of these communities have since been recruited into the Islamist cause.

The Kabylie region has seen 10 days of fierce rioting by Berbers, sparked by the death of a teenager in police custody.

A week ago Algerian riot police fired tear gas to disperse hundreds of young Berbers in Bejaia demonstrating against perceived brutality in the police's response to the nation-wide riots.

President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has promised a "free and open investigation" into the clashes.