Militants Allegedly Kill Riders On 2 Buses

In what would be some of the worst bloodshed in Algeria’s four-year civil war, a newspaper reported Monday that militants shot and hacked at least 63 people to death. The government denied it.

The London-based Arabic daily Al-Hayat said more than 100 Muslim militants armed with rifles, daggers and axes attacked two buses Saturday after setting up fake police barricades on a highway southeast of Algiers, the capital.

The Algerian government issued a statement calling the report “totally unfounded.” Al-Hayat, a widely distributed and respected newspaper, had no immediate response to the government denial.

The reported slaughter was similar to one Thursday in which militants reportedly slit the throats of 17 bus passengers along a highway in the same area.