Two Armed Islamists Killed East of Algiers

Algerian troops killed two armed Islamists in the restive Boumerdes province east of the capital where al-Qaida forces are active, a security source said on Monday.

The two men were killed in an army ambush at around midnight on Sunday in the Baghlia area of Boumerdes, some 50 kilometers (30 miles) outside Algiers, he said, cited by the national APS news agency.

Independent daily El Watan, quoting its own sources, said the two gunmen were former members of the GSPC, a jihadist group active during Algeria's civil war in the 1990s that later renamed itself al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).

Algeria has battled Islamist insurgents since the devastating civil war, and despite frequent army raids to curtail their activities, AQIM remains active in and around the Kabylie region, its heartland.

Sunday night's ambush comes exactly a fortnight after two Islamist gunmen were killed in separate military operations in Boumerdes province, and a bomb attack targeting an army convoy reportedly killed two soldiers southeast of Tizi Ouzou, the main Kabylie city.