Algeria security forces kill 12 jihadists in a week
Date
3/28/2016 12:10:41 PM
(MENAFN- The Peninsula) Tunisian soldiers stand guard in the mountainous border region near Algeria where security forces have been hunting Al-Qaeda linked jihadists on June 6 2013. AFP Abderrazek Khlifi
Algiers: Algerian troops on Monday killed a jihadist east of the capital the defence ministry said bringing to 12 the number of gunmen killed by security forces in a week.
The jihadist was killed during a military operation in Tadmait 80 kilometres (50 miles) outside Algiers it said two days after three others were killed in the same area.
The army killed a jihadist in El Oued further south near the Tunisian border on Saturday it said after killing six more in the desert area in a week.
Algerian police had also killed a jihadist wearing an explosives belt in the Tizi Ouzou area east of the capital on Wednesday security sources said.
A total of "157 terrorists including 10 commanders" were killed or arrested in military operations last year according to the defence ministry.
A brutal civil war in the 1990s between the government and Islamists killed 200000 people.
Despite adopting a peace and reconciliation charter in 2005 aimed at turning the page on the conflict armed groups remain active in the centre and east of Algeria.
AFP