Army kills 3 Islamist militants
2009-11-08 21:00
Algiers - Three Islamist militants were killed in an ambush by Algerian security forces near Tizi Ouzou, east of the capital Algiers, the daily El Watan reported on its website on Sunday.
The ambush in which the three men died took place late on Saturday in the region about 110km east of Algiers, the independent francophone newspaper said.
On Tuesday another operation by Algerian forces in the Boumerdes region, about 50km from the capital, left two Islamist militants dead.
Since June the Algerian army has launched numerous operations to wipe out the bases where the militants hide after their attacks.
Many of the attack have been blamed on al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), which emerged out of the Algerian fundamentalist Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat and sees itself as the north African wing of Osama bin Laden's network.
Since early last month several dozen armed Islamists have been killed by the security forces, according to official and media reports.
- SAPA