to try to end a war against Moslem guerrillas which has cost some 60,000 lives, but diplomats see no end in sight to the bloodshed.

President Liamine Zeroual signed into law at the weekend a new constitution that bans political parties based on religion and strengthens the powers he holds.

The new constitution will ensure there is no repeat of the December 1991 elections when the Moslem fundamentalist Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) took an overwhelming lead, prompting the army-backed authorities to cancel the poll, ushering in five years of fierce bloodshed.

"Is it ever going to end?'' asked a Western diplomat. "Even a senior Algerian policeman in an interview in October said it might go on for years.

And I have no reason to doubt this.'' Attacks on civilians over the past week underscore the determination of armed groups to pursue their struggle, claiming religious justification in pursuit of a purist Islamist state.

Zeroual has given no hint that he will negotiate with those battling to overthrow his government.

He tried talks in the past but now appears determined to pursue the political path he has chosen, and to dismiss the killings as "residual terrorism,'' offering only clemency to those who surrender.

"Zeroual is acting in a way you would expect a retired general to act. He is doing what he said he would,'' said a senior diplomat in Algiers.

But, he added, the authorities' repeated dismissal of continuous violence as "residual terrorism'' did not match reality.

Twenty-nine civilians were killed by Moslem rebels in two separate attacks reported by the official media in Blida province south of Algiers. Some had their throats cut.

The outlawed FIS has called in the past for talks and has condemned the killing of villagers as well as last Tuesday's bombing of a Paris commuter train which killed three people and injured 94.

No one has claimed responsibility for that blast but its method of execution was similar to a series of attacks in France last year for which the Algerian Armed Islamic Group (GIA) claimed responsibility.

Diplomats say there is little evidence to show that the once powerful FIS still has influence on the killers operating in Algeria, or that it would be ready to change its religious base to meet the demands of Algeria's new constitution.

According to official results, 84.6 percent of voters backed the new constitution in a referendum on November 28. Zeroual said the support for constitutional change reaffirmed the Algerian people's determination to overcome the crisis.

The authorities said the vote passed without violence but independent Algerian media, despite censorship, said at least 26 people were killed.

Through war Algeria is becoming ever more polarised between those living in the main cities and its many rural people.

Algerian media said on Saturday that hundreds of people had fled recent attacks on villages to take refuge in the provincial capital of Blida, headquarters of the main military region.