CAIRO, July 14: A bomb explosion in a crowded weekly market killed 21 people and injured several others raising the toll to 86 since last week.Earlier, 65 people were slayed by suspected militants last week, as violence escalalted in the north African country.

The bomb went off at around 1115 local time in the weekly market in Baraki, a southern suburb of the capital. No one has claimed responsiblity for the blast so far

Rescue services raced to the market to help the victims and authorities blamed islamic fundamentalists for the ``criminal act''.

Earlier, 33 villagers were hacked to death while 11 people had been massacred in two other villages. All the three villages are in the outskirts of Algiers, the capital city.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.