It was the latest atrocity in a rising spiral of violence during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

The assailants, armed with axes and knives, attacked worshippers emerging from the mosque after evening prayers in the hamlet of Lampar, at around 8:30 p.m.

The killers decapitated one man who tried to put up a fight, and shot another victim as she drove past the scene before setting fire to her car with her body still inside.

Sources in the hospital where the victims were taken reported that two of the wounded people were in serious condition, while one was only slightly injured and had been allowed to go home.

It is the second such massacre in the area: an armed group killed 15 people there in a July 1997 attack.

This latest slaughter brings to nearly 70 the number killed in attacks attributed to armed Islamists since the beginning of Ramadam, a sacred month of fasting in the Muslim calendar, which in Algeria started on December 9.

About 40 people have been wounded over the same period and at least six people abducted, according to press reports.

Elements of the Armed Islamic Group (GIA) led by Antar Zouabri are known to be active in the region where the attack took place. Zouabri opposes Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika's attempts to broker peace with armed Islamic groups.

Another group, Hassan Hattab's Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) has also rejected the president's overtures.

Both groups consider Ramadam as a propitious time for a Jihad, or holy war. Since the start of the Islamic insurgency in Algeria seven years ago, attacks have regularly intensified in the run-up to and during Ramadan.

The GIA makes no distinction between military and civilian targets but the GSPC says it only attacks the security forces or civil servants. Between them, the two groups are thought to have a combined strength of between 5,000 and 7,000 men.

The Algerian government, which canceled 1993 elections that the Islamists were poised to win, has vowed to crack down on armed Islamic groups after Jan. 13.

Rwanda Genocide Attributed To U.N. 'Benign Neglect' Attitude
Malay Opposition Charges Elections Were Rigged
India Accused Of Killing 10 In Bomb Blast In Pakistani Kashmir
Ramadan Draws 300,000 To Jum'a Prayers At Al-Aqsa
Jamaat-i-Islami in Pakistan accuse Bhutto of murder
Hizbullah Says It Will Abandon Jihad If Peace Talks Successful