Algeria: May 2, 2002

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GIA, the main radical Islamic group, saw it's leader killed by government security forces in February. The new GIA leader, Rachid Abu Turab, has been cementing his control over the various GIA factions. Turab's public statements have not been encouraging. Turad said about possible peace talks; "neither truce, nor dialogue, nor reconciliation, nor security but blood and blood, destruction and destruction," until an Islamic government was established in Algeria. "We will continue to destroy their crops, seize their goods, rape their women and decapitate them in their towns, villages and the deserts. We will kill them and slit their throats without respite." The "they" are anyone who doesn't agree with the GIA. To prove their point, GIA killed at least 34 civilians today. So far this year, GIA and other Islamic radicals have killed at least 300 people. Some 150 radicals have died as well.