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Six soldiers killed in Algeria
03/09/2006 13:08 - (SA)
Algiers - Armed groups in Algeria killed six members of the security forces in two separate ambushes on Saturday, according to newspaper reports on Sunday.
Four police officers were killed and five injured on Saturday evening when an armed group ambushed their convoy on a major road through the Adekar forest, 260 kilometres east of Algiers, the daily Liberte newspaper reported.
The paper said the group was caught unawares by an explosion next to a bridge, followed by machinegun fire from men hidden at the side of the road.
The forest is a notorious hide-out for members of the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), an Islamist group that rejects President Abdelaziz Bouteflika's national reconciliation policy.
Two communal guards were killed on Saturday morning in an ambush in the Ouled Hamza area near Medea (80 kilometres south of Algiers), according to two newspapers, El Khabar and Ech-Chourouk, which blamed the attack on GSPC.
The attacks followed the expiry on Monday of a partial amnesty under which armed Islamists who had not committed violent crimes would be pardonned.
The amnesty agreement was intended to put an end to the violence that has killed between 150 000 and 200 000 people according to official figures.
Algeria's long-running civil war has greatly reduced in intensity since 2003. Sporadic violence still continues on a much lower level, although the unrest has escalated since the start of June.
- AFP
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