Four Russians have been found murdered in a forest in eastern Algeria - the first killings of foreigners in the North African country in over four years.
The four men, who worked as engineers for a steel manufacturing plant, had entered the forest of Edough, 370 miles east of Algiers, to go mushroom picking on Sunday.
The men were found with their throats slit after the Russian Consulate alerted authorities yesterday that the men were missing.
Algerian Foreign Minister Abdelaziz Belkhadem met with the Russian ambassador to Algeria to express the government’s ‘‘firm condemnation of this hideous act,’’ according to a statement released by Algeria’s official news agency, APS.
Islamic militants intensified a murderous campaign during the holy month of Ramadan, leaving more than 250 people dead during the holiday season last month.