Bloody Dawn

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By Newsweek Editors

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BEFORE SUNUP LAST FRIDAY in the Algerian village of Rais, at least 98 people--possibly as many as 300--were butchered. Bodies lay in the streets; some reports said severed heads were left on doorsteps. It was the worst night of carnage yet in a five-year conflict that has killed 60,000 people. A night later, raiders killed a total of 47 in two other communities. Since June, when the military regime of President Liamine Zeroual held elections excluding most Islamic fundamentalists, the slaughter has escalated. Zeroual vows to eradicate the ""barbarous criminals,'' but that's little solace to villagers, who suspect government security-force members and local landowners of a role in such massacres.

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