Western intelligence sources have scant evidence as to who is behind the slaughter. The government says the killings are being carried out by armed Islamic fundamentalist groups, while former Algerian government officials say it's a power struggle between retired general President Liamine Zeroual and the commanders of Algeria's military security service. In any event, Algeria's almost 28 million Muslims are caught in a growing spiral of terror and violence. The recent terrorist attacks take place within the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which ends tonight. Ramadan is a time for fasting and spiritual purification, but for Algeria it has for several years been a time of escalated violence.
Algerian officials point to the timing of the attacks as evidence of religious extremism.
But the government raises international suspicion by closing Algeria's borders to observers from the United Nations, the European Union, human rights organizations or even Western news agencies. At least some of the violence is certainly state-sponsored. With so many victims, almost all of them civilians, there is blood enough for many hands. Both the government and the Islamic parties tell the world that the other one is behind the terror, and that terrorism must be crushed. Cracking down on terrorism is exactly the policy stance the United States should take while determining whether the Algerian government itself is not a terrorist group.