[2] 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.
The hooded attackers arrived about 1 am in trucks and cars, armed with shotguns, knives, axes, and bombs.
[3] Responsibility was claimed for this, as for the Bentalha massacre, by the Armed Islamic Group (GIA).
In An Inquiry into the Algerian Massacres (a book arguing that the GIA had become a tool of the state) two survivors are quoted as reporting that the killers were dressed like "Afghans", with turbans, covered faces, beards (some false), and uniforms, that the attackers were also cursing God throughout, and that among them were a few women, wearing hijab over a uniform.
The government vowed to "continue to struggle without mercy against the barbarous criminals until their eradication", announcing a massive manhunt and new measures to reinforce rural security.
Amnesty International expressed concern regarding the government response, noting that "the massacre site is surrounded by army barracks and security forces posts, located between a few hundreds metres and a few kilometers away",[4] including an army barracks 100 metres away, and quoting a survivor as saying "The army and the security forces were right there; they heard and saw everything and did nothing, and they let the terrorists leave."
The Algerian government told the UN Commission on Human Rights (E/CN.4/2000/3/Add.1 Archived 21 July 2001 at the Wayback Machine) that "A judicial inquiry was opened by the Larbâa court and the four perpetrators of the massacre identified.
[6] Some of those who remained were given arms by the government for future self-defense, according to La Tribune, which quotes residents opposing Abdelaziz Bouteflika's amnesty to certain members of the armed groups (the Law of National Reconciliation), fearing that it would include murderers like those who killed their neighbors.
A few recounts of the massacre allow us to step into the shoes of the victims and hear the events that unfolded on August 28, 1997.
"[7] Quote from an unnamed survivor of the Rais massacre to Amnesty International: “Why did this happen?