ALGIERS Four youths were killed late Saturday by an armed group at Arib, near D'Ain Defla, some 160 kilometers (100 miles) west of Algiers, local residents said Sunday.

They said the assailants opened fire with automatic weapons on a young shopkeeper and three clients who were talking at a small shop near the tiny village of Mahara, shortly after nightfall.

Although AFP tried to blame Islamists for their activities in the area, reports said that the Algerian military is mostly involved in such killings.

An Algerian general, now in Hong Kong, said last month that such terrorist activities are mostly conducted by Algerian militiamen rather than Muslims or Berbers.