/ 22 February 1999

ALGERIA DENIES FINDING BODIES

ALGERIAN authorities denied late on Sunday a report that 70 bodies have been recovered from a well on the outskirts of Algiers.The civil protection service said that while a search has begun with the assistance of security forces, no bodies had been found. The daily Liberte reported earlier on Sunday that the remains of 70 people had been recovered and security forces and civil protection services were continuing to search the well. The victims were killed by extremists of the radical Armed Islamic Group (GIA). According to press reports, authorities were tipped off about the mass grave by a GIA member who recently gave himself up to the security forces.