The Algerian interior ministry on Tuesday denied "with great firmness" that the death toll in a Sunday night massacre south of Algiers was more than 400, and stuck with the official figure of 103 dead and 70 wounded.
The ministry, in a statement read on state-run radio, was reacting to Algerian newspaper reports that more than 400 civilians were killed over the weekend in Sidi Hamed village, some 20 miles south of Algiers.It asked newspapers that carried tolls of 400 what point "this macabre accounting" served.
"One death is one death too many," the ministry said. It denied the higher toll "with great firmness" and said the real toll was 103 dead and 70 wounded, including 10 in critical condition.
That toll, given by the security services on Monday just hours after the massacre in Sidi Hamed was the highest officially acknowledged toll for one single attack in Algeria's six-year-old conflict.
Liberte newspaper, quoting survivors, said 428 civilians had died and 140 been wounded in the village.
El Watan newspaper, quoting what it called "sources which are in agreement," reported that 400 people had been slaughtered in Sidi Hamed, most of them women and children.
"Yesterday, survivors were still busy looking for bodies buried under the ruins of burnt houses," Liberte said.