The Si Zerrouk massacre took place in the
Si Zerrouk neighborhood in the south of
Larbaa in
Algeria
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on 27 July 1997. About 50 people were killed.
Background
In 1997, Algeria was at the peak of a civil conflict that had begun after the military's cancellation of 1992 elections set to be won by the
Islamic Salvation Front (FIS). Two major Islamist guerrilla groups,
Armed Islamic Group (GIA) and
AIS, and several minor ones, were fighting the government.
Larbaa was a major center for the FIS's armed wing, the
Islamic Salvation Army (AIS), which the GIA had recently declared war on;
Mustapha Kartali, a former GIA chief who had split from him in 1995 and become head of the AIS's ''
Katibat Errahamane'' brigade, was based in the area.
Massacre
On the afternoon of 27 July 1997, the electricity went out. That night, a number of guerrillas armed with shotguns, knives, and sabres (30 according to ''
The Economist
''The Economist'' is a British weekly newspaper printed in demitab format and published digitally. It focuses on current affairs, international business, politics, technology, and culture. Based in London, the newspaper is owned by The Econ ...
'', 100 according to ''Liberte'') stormed into the area by night and started breaking into homes and cutting the residents' throats, killing men, women, and babies, and burning some victims alive. They also blew up their houses. About 50 people (most papers reported 47; ''Le Matin'' reported 58) were killed.
The
massacre
A massacre is the killing of a large number of people or animals, especially those who are not involved in any fighting or have no way of defending themselves. A massacre is generally considered to be morally unacceptable, especially when per ...
was presumed to be the work of the
GIA. According to Robert Moore of ''
The Observer
''The Observer'' is a British newspaper Sunday editions, published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group, Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. ...
'' as quoted b
Ahmed Bouzidin
Zmag
Z Communications is a left-wing activist-oriented media group founded in 1986 by Michael Albert and Lydia Sargent.Max Elbaum''Revolution in the Air: Sixties Radicals Turn to Lenin, Mao and Che'' London, England, UK; New York, New York, US: Verso, ...
: "in the village of Larbaa the attack took place 300 yards from a large barracks." The
New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
confirms that "the electricity had been cut in the town before the assault and the attack occurred close to an army barracks" (Roger Cohen, "Despite freeing of a militant, no letup in Algerian strife", ''The New York Times'', 2 August 1997, as cited b
Algeria-Watch.
See also
*
List of massacres in Algeria
A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to:
People
* List (surname)
Organizations
* List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America
* SC Germania List, German rugby uni ...
References
External links
Economist
{{DEFAULTSORT:Si-Zerrouk Massacre
Algerian massacres of the 1990s
1997 in Algeria
Conflicts in 1997
Massacres in 1997
July 1997 events in Africa