Residents recounted how the attackers slashed and mutilated infants and killed or kidnapped women in a new wave of bloodshed from a nearly 7-year-old insurgency.

Despite repeated claims by the government that the insurgency was under control, the same murderous cycle as in previous years has reappeared before the holy month of Ramadan that begins December 20.

Armed groups overnight on Tuesday descended on three mountain villages near Tadjena, 170 kms southwest of Algiers. The groups killed 81 people in the villages along the route between Tenes and Chlef, torturing, slashing and mutilating their victims, hospital officials said.

It was the bloodiest night of massacres since militants killed 400 people in two Algiers suburbs in January, during Ramadan. It also boosted the month's death toll from militant attacks and bombings to 200.