Algeria - clashes

Army kills 16 Islamist fighters

Article published on the 2009-07-29 Latest update 2009-07-29 10:14 TU

Newly graduated police officers take part in a ceremony in Algiers
(Photo: Reuters)

Algeria's army has killed 16 armed Islamists in an offensive in three regions of the country, according to the Algerian press. The areas are considered to be strongholds of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.

Eight bodies were found on Monday and Tuesday in a forest near Batna, in the south-east of the country, according to French-language daily, El Watan.

Three Islamists are reported shot dead in two ambushes near Tizi Ouzou, the capital of the Kabylia region. The army killed five on 25 July in the same region, according to Le Temps, which also reports a "spectacular" bank raid by four masked men.

Five Islamists have also been killed in the south, near Médéa, according to the Arabic-language paper El Khabar.

The army launched the current offensive after two soldiers were killed. The Islamists are reported to have retreated to these areas after suffering losses in the centre of the country. 

Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb was previously known as the Groupe Salafiste pour la Prédication et le Combat (GSPC), or Group for Call and Combat, It launched an armed campaign against the government in 2002, declaring that it would target Algerian and French interests.

Islamic hardliners have been fighting the Algerian state since the army persuaded President Chadli Benjedid to annul the results of the 1991 election, which was won by the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS).