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Algeria rebels kill six soldiers in ambush - paper

13 May 2008 10:00:34 GMT
Source: Reuters

ALGIERS, May 13 (Reuters) - Rebels linked to Al Qaeda's north African wing killed six Algerian soldiers in the deadliest attack on government forces in three months, a newspaper reported on Tuesday.

The soldiers were on patrol when their convoy came under fire on Sunday in Medea province, 90 km (50 miles) southwest of the capital Algiers, El Khabar newspaper said, citing unnamed sources.

Some soldiers escaped and fought with their assailants, who fled to a nearby forest, taking with them weapons and uniforms from the dead soldiers.

Authorities were not immediately available for comment on the ambush.

It was the deadliest ambush on the army since Feb. 8, when eight paramilitary gendarmes were shot dead in El Oued province, 500 km (300 miles) southeast of Algiers.

Violence broke out in Algeria in 1992 after the military-backed authorities scrapped a parliamentary election that an Islamist political party, the Islamic Salvation Front, was set to win. Up to 200,000 people were killed in the ensuing bloodshed.

Violence has fallen in recent years, but more recently scores of people have died in a series of suicide bombings in and around Algiers. (Reporting by Hamid Ould Ahmed; Editing by Giles Elgood)

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