Algeria Police Says it Killed Jihadist

Algerian police killed a jihadist during a search operation in the Tizi Ouzou region east of the capital, the official APS news agency reported Thursday citing a police statement.

Cornered by the army, the man who was wearing an explosives belt then headed towards a police station "probably intending to blow himself up", APS reported security sources as saying.

Ammunition was seized during the operation late Wednesday.

A total of "157 terrorists, including 10 commanders" were killed or arrested in military operations last year, according to the defense ministry.

A suicide attack on a police station in the Tizi Ouzou area in August 2011 wounded more than 30 people.

A brutal civil war in the 1990s between the government and Islamists killed 200,000 people.

Despite adopting a peace and reconciliation charter in 2005 aimed at turning the page on the conflict, armed groups remain active in the center and east of Algeria.