Tadjena massacre

1998 terrorist attacks in Algeria

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Tadjena massacre
Part of Algerian Civil War
Location	Tadjena, Algeria
Date	8 December 1998
Deaths	81
Perpetrators	Armed Islamic Group of Algeria

Algerian Civil War

Beginning of war 1991–1994

1990 Algerian local elections
Guemmar
1991 legislative elections
1992 coup
Assassination of Mohamed Boudiaf
Algiers
Blida
Assassinations of journalists

Escalation 1994–1996

Tazoult
Tenes
Ain Allah
Berrouaghia
Air France Flight 8969
Algiers
Sundus
Serkadji
Ain Defla
Ghardaïa
France

Massacres and reconciliation 1996–1999

Defeat of the GIA 1999–2002

Algerian massacres in 1998

Massacres in which over 50 people were killed:

Wilaya of Relizane massacres	4 January
Sidi-Hamed massacre	11 January
Oued Bouaicha massacre	26 March
Baloul massacre	2 September
Tadjena massacre	8 December

← 1997

1999 →

The Tadjena massacre was an incident resulting in 81 deaths. Beginning about 9:00 p.m. on December 8 and continuing until early December 9, 1998, 81 villagers (45 according to the initial reports) were killed by armed groups in the mountain villages of Bouhamed and Ayachiche just north of Tadjena, some 170 km (106 mi) west of Algiers, in the Chlef region of western Algeria. The manner of killing is reported to have been notably sadistic, mutilating victims and burning corpses; CNN quoted a survivor as saying that "attackers slashed the throats of children, cutting the arms and legs off one of them and throwing the body in a boiling pot." In addition, 20 women (8 according to initial reports) were kidnapped. Another 7 people had been killed there on the previous night. The massacre took place about ten days before the beginning of Ramadan.

The massacre was reported by a Member of Parliament in a televised parliamentary debate. The massacre site was later visited by the Interior Minister, Mostefa Bensamour. The authorities announced a manhunt for the murderers responsible on the national radio, and declared that a "terrorist band" was responsible. A nearby mountain was described as a major Armed Islamic Group (GIA) base; the GIA is thus presumed to be responsible. However (at least as of December 10, 1998) no group had admitted to the massacre.

Tadjena was later subjected to a second smaller massacre on the 25–26 May 2003, when 7 people were killed on the 25th and another 14 from a single family on the 26th.^[1]