Algeria Insurgency Toll Estimated at 150,000

ALGIERS — At least 150,000 Algerians have died in a 15-year Islamist insurgency, the head of the government human rights body said Saturday, the highest official estimate ever given.

The fighting started in 1992 when the army canceled a second round of voting in Algeria’s first multiparty legislative elections. The army acted to thwart a likely victory by the now-banned Islamic Salvation Front.

Since then, 150,000 to 200,000 have died, Farouk Ksentini said.

The number killed has never been clear, but Ksentini’s figure was the highest estimated toll given by any government official. The death toll also included security forces, he said.

Algerian Interior Minister Noureddine Yazid Zerhouni said 700 to 800 Islamist insurgents continued to fight in various parts of the country.

Under a reconciliation plan, President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has freed 1,236 prisoners, including many convicted Muslim extremists.

More than 2,000 convicted or suspected Islamists are to be freed or get sentence reductions.

The plan was overwhelmingly approved in a September referendum in an effort to turn the page on an era of terror.