Background
In 1997, Algeria was at the peak of a brutal civil conflict that had begun after the military's cancellation of 1992 elections set to be won by the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS). Guerrillas fighting the government took refuge in the forest of Bainem west of Algiers. The Sidi Youssef neighborhood of Beni-Messous (see detailed map) stands just on the edge of this forest. Beni-Messous is an outlying suburb of Algiers (see map) along the Beni-Messous river, home to a large military barracks. One account indicates that a military search for guerrillas in the forest was underway when the massacre started.
Read more about this topic: Beni-Messous Massacre
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