Algeria - The Army and the "Eradicators"

Groups of 5 to 10 men in plain clothes work the inner city, while 35,000 troops man an "infernal arc" in the Mitidja between Algeria, Blida, Laarba and Medea. Out in the countryside, small groups of soldiers travel in helicopters and armored personnel vehicles to track down fundamentalists. It's clobbering time in Algeria. The annual U.S. report on human rights said there was "convincing evidence" of systematic torture and executions of suspected GIA and FIS insurgents. The right-wing groups are called "eradicators," the cops that guard the cities in the black ski masks are called "ninjas." According to some recent estimates, there are at least 5,000 local so-called "self-defense" or "patriotic" groups in place across the country. The GIA now almost invariably skips villages where these groups are well organized and well armed.