Algerian troops kill 6 Islamist militants near Tunisia border

ALGIERS: Algerian troops killed sixarmed Islamist fighters in the country's southeast near theTunisian border and captured arms and munitions the ministryof defence said on Monday.

They were killed in El Oued and Kalashnikov rifleshandguns and ammunition were recovered from two off-roadvehicles the ministry said in a statement.

Algeria and Tunisia cooperate in security along theirfrontier where a small group of fighters from al theQaeda-linked Okba Ibn Nafaa brigade operates in Tunisia'sChaambi mountains.

Militants are suspected to have fled there after Frenchtroops intervened in 2013 in response to an Islamist insurgencyin Mali which borders Algeria to the north.

A war with Islamist militants killed 200000 people inAlgeria in the 1990s since when the country has been relativelypeaceful.

But Al Qaeda's North Africa branch and Islamic Statecontinue to operate in remote pockets of the country.

Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb claimed a rocket attack onFriday on a southern Algerian gas plant operated by BP Statoiland state energy firm Sonatrach. It caused no damage or

casualties but on Monday the two foreign companies beganpulling workers out of gas sites in the country.

Reuters