Starting with the killing of local policemen and regional administrators—just as in 1954, but displaying less coordination—an appalling civil war ensued, with the Algiers government proving as incapable of crushing the revolt as the French Army had been in 1954–62. The FIS was in turn thrust aside by a far more extreme band of revolutionaries, the GIA (Armed Islamic Group), prepared to wage war with total ruthlessness.

XREF: Parallels with the earlier 1954-62 Algerian war of independence against France, showing recurring cycles of violent revolution in Algerian history.

Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Alge…, loc. 41