Algerian Leader Shot To Death

Abdelkader Hachani, the third-ranking leader of the banned Islamic Salvation Front, was shot and killed Monday in Algiers, family members said.

An unidentified gunman shot Hachani twice in the head and once in the stomach in the working class district of Bab el-Oued, just before he entered a dentist's office. He was rushed to the emergency ward at a nearby hospital, said his 14-year-old daughter. She is one of four children.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the killing that came after the worst week of violence in the North African nation since President Abdelaziz Bouteflika was elected in April. He has promised to end the seven-year insurgency.

In December 1991, with the party's top two leaders already in prison, Hachani had led the Front to overwhelming victory in a first round of legislative elections. The army then canceled the second round, sparking an Islamic insurgency that has left 100,000 people dead.

Hachani was arrested in January 1992 for allegedly inciting rebellion after the army canceled the vote. He was freed in July 1997 after five years in prison and has remained mainly out of public view.

Under a peace plan announced this summer by newly elected President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, Islamic militants can benefit from an amnesty provided they renounce violence and have not committed rape, murder, or planted bombs.

In October this year, Hachani was among a group of prominent Algerians who called for a summit to seek a global solution to the savage violence that has isolated Algeria.

On Saturday, 15 people were killed and eight wounded in an attack at a roadblock south of the capital. In a separate attack earlier in the week, about 20 people, mostly women and children, were slaughtered.

On Sunday, a child was killed and three wounded when militants bombed a school bus.

Bouteflika has given Islamic militants until Jan. 13 to apply for pardons under the amnesty and warned that those who failed to do so risk harsh treatment at the hands of the state.