The MIA and various smaller insurgent bands regrouped Cause_to_amalgamate , becoming Becoming the FIS-loyalist Islamic Salvation Army ( AIS ) .

The GIA not only fought Hostile_encounter the AIS but began Process_start a series of massacres Killing targeting Aiming entire neighborhoods or villages—some evidence also suggests Convincing the involvement Participation of government forces—which peaked in 1997 .

Its massacre policy caused Causation desertion Escaping and splits Destroying , while the AIS , under attack Attack from both sides , declared Expressing_publicly a unilateral ceasefire Process_end with the government in 1997 .