Algeria roadside bombs kill 2

2004-04-19 12:33

Algiers - Roadside bombs planted by Islamic extremists in northeastern Algeria killed two soldiers and wounded seven who were patrolling the region, the daily Le Matin reported on Monday.

The soldiers were carrying out a sweep in an area that had previously been heavily bombarded by artillery fire when the two bombs exploded as their convoy passed over them near Baghlia, near Kabylie's main city of Tizi Ouzou, 110km east of Algiers, on Saturday.

Hardline extremist fighters of the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), which has links with al-Qaeda, are thought to operate in Kabylie, the homeland of Algeria's minority Berbers.

Since the start of the month, at least 12 people including five members of the security forces have been killed in fighting with rebels in the north African country, according to official sources and press reports.

The GSPC and another hardline group, the Armed Islamic Group (GIA), have rejected a national reconciliation programme initiated by President Abdelaziz Bouteflika in 1999, but are thought to be diminishing in strength.

Thousands of other rebels lay down their arms in exchange for partial amnesty.

Violence in Algeria's civil war, which broke out in 1992 after an Islamist party was prevented from winning legislative elections, has greatly abated since July 2003.

Nearly 140 lives have been lost since the start of the year. The total death toll since 1992 is estimated at upwards of 150 000.

The decrease in violence was thought to have been a major factor in Bouteflika's landslide re-election victory on April 8.

- AFP