ALGIERS, Feb 2 (AFP) - All fighters of Algeria's Islamic Salvation Army (AIS) have returned to their homes since being granted a blanket amnesty by President Abdelaziz Bouteflika last month, state radio said Wednesday.
AIS leader Madani Mezrag is at home in Kaous near Jijel, 350 km (220 miles) east of Algiers, accompanied by two close aides, Mohamed Chelli and Fodil Boubnidra, the radio report said.
The estimated strength of the AIS - the armed wing of the outlawed Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) - in the Jijel region was almost 1,200, according to the report, which added that all AIS fighters in the northwest - "a little more than 500" - commanded by Ahmed Benaicha, had also gone home.
About 200 fighters from another group, the Islamic League for Preaching and Jihad (LIDD), who were billeted under military surveillance at Tamezguida, near Medea, 80 km (50 miles) south of Algiers, have also demobilized, going home with passes provided by the regional state prosecutor.
The AIS had declared a unilateral truce in Algeria's civil war in October 1997 and laid down its arms in June last year. It announced its dissolution on January 11, followed by Ali Benhadjar's LIDD.
These Islamic groups benefited from a six-month partial or total amnesty proclaimed from July 13 last year by President Abdelaziz Bouteflika as part of civil reconciliation legislation aimed at ending the anti-government war and attacks against civilians, which have claimed at least 100,000 lives.
The war broke out in 1992 after the army called off the second round of general elections which the Muslim umbrella group FIS had been poised to win in secular Algeria.
The leadership of the most radical movement, Antar Zouabri's Armed Islamic Group (GIA), rejects any dealings with the authorities and continues to fight the security forces and massacre civilians, but press reports hold that a fourth movement, Hassan Hattab's Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat, is still negotiating its surrender with the military.
