ISLAMIC extremists slaughtered 26 people overnight near the town of Berrouaghia, south of Algiers, residents in the area said. The massacre took place in a shantytown called Cherata some 120km south of Algiers in an area where extremists of the hardline Armed Islamic Group (GIA) are active. Twenty-two bodies were found at the scene, most shot dead. Four bodies were found later at some distance from the site of the massacre. – AFP