Sidi Moussa is a commune in the Baraki District of the Algiers Province and a suburb of the city of Algiers in northern Algeria. It is situated 15 km (9.3 mi) south of central Algiers.

1. History

The commune was heavily struck by the Algerian Civil War: In 1993 and 1994 death squads conducted killings, in January 1997 there were further murders and in August 1997 the Rais massacre took place.

1. References
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3.3 km

Rais massacre

The Rais massacre was one of Algeria's bloodiest massacres of the 1990s. It took place on 28 August 1997 at the village of Rais, near Sidi Moussa and south of Algiers. The initial official death toll was 98 people killed and 120 wounded; CNN said that hospital workers and witnesses gave a toll of at least 200, and up to 400. The figure given by the Algerian government to the UN Commission on Human Rights was 238. The BBC later quoted the figure of 800 killed. 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). The poor farming village of Rais had mostly voted for FIS and had a history of supporting Islamist guerrillas in the region, but (according to a villager quoted by PBS) had recently stopped providing them with food and money.
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4.8 km

Bentalha massacre

In the village of Bentalha (Arabic: بن طلحة), located 15 km (9.3 mi) south of Algiers, an incident occurred on the night of 22–23 September 1997, where a significant number of villagers were killed by armed guerrillas. According to Amnesty International, over 200 villagers were killed. Different sources have reported varying numbers of deaths, with estimates ranging from 85 (the initial official estimate) to 400 (The Economist) to 417 (independent sources).
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6.9 km

Baraki, Algiers

Baraki (Arabic: براقي) is a commune belonging to Baraki District in Algiers Province in Northern Algeria.
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7.4 km

Oued Smar

Oued Smar is a suburb of the city of Algiers in northern Algeria.