Terrorism in Algeria aims principally at the destruction of the individual. In effect, however, the atrocities that are being committed target the entire community, because through the individual, the whole population lives in terror. This climate of terror is exacerbated by the fact that the assassinations and massacres are collective. Thus we are seeing the destruction of community ties, because of the assassinations, the destruction of homes, and the destruction of schools – places that symbolically represent a community. Their destruction means the destruction of the reference points that allow an individual to situate himself or herself in society.