The largest Omaria massacre took place on 23 April 1997 in the
Algerian village of
El Omaria near
Médéa, south of
Algiers
Algiers ( ; ar, الجزائر, al-Jazāʾir; ber, Dzayer, script=Latn; french: Alger, ) is the capital and largest city of Algeria. The city's population at the 2008 Census was 2,988,145Census 14 April 2008: Office National des Statistiques ...
. Attackers armed with knives, sabers, and guns killed 42 people - including 17 women and 3 babies - in 3 hours, mutilating and sometimes burning the bodies. A pregnant women was cut open, and her baby hacked apart. The
Haouch Khemisti massacre had taken place the day before. The violence provoked international condemnation of those responsible; US State Department spokesman Nicholas Burns declared that "these Islamic terrorists... deserve special criticism and condemnation by the world community for these despicable acts", while the Algerian
FLN stated that "This barbarity is condemned by all religions, laws and morals of humanity."
A previous
massacre had taken place at Omaria on 22 January 1997, in which 23 people were killed.
See also
*
List of massacres in Algeria
*
List of Algerian massacres of the 1990s
External links
CNNMDO
Algerian massacres of the 1990s
1997 in Algeria
Conflicts in 1997
Massacres in 1997
April 1997 events in Africa
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