Reuters AlertNet Lite - Algerian rebels kill three soldiers

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Algerian rebels kill three soldiers - paper

14 May 2007 12:09:48 GMT
Source: Reuters

ALGIERS, May 14 (Reuters) - Al Qaeda-linked Algerian rebels facing stepped up assaults by the army set off a bomb killing three soldiers including an officer east of Algiers, newspapers reported on Monday.

Three soldiers were also wounded when the bomb exploded on Sunday near a military patrol hunting Islamist rebels in a mountainous part of Skikda province, 510 km (318 miles) east of Algiers, Liberte and El Khabar said.

The rebels were believed to belong to an Islamist armed rebel group that calls itself the al Qaeda Organisation in the Islamic Maghreb, the newspapers said.

The army has launched fresh offensives on rebel hideouts in several provinces since a triple suicide bombing killed 33 people in Algiers on April 11.

The al Qaeda Organisation in the Islamic Maghreb, previously known as the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat, or GSPC, claimed responsility for the bombings.

Algeria holds a parliamentary election on May 17. Some observers expect the rebels to try to disrupt polling.

Troops backed by helicopters on Sunday started bombing moutainous areas around Boumerdes town, 50 km east of Algiers, where Islamic militants are belived to be hiding, El Watan newspaper said.

It said the attack followed a skirmish the day before between the army and rebels in which seven army soldiers may have been killed. The daily said it could not as yet confirm the figure from "credible sources."

Thirteen rebels have been killed in Boumedes and the neighbouring province of Tizi Ouzou in separate offensives by troops over the past few days, according to newspaper reports.

The al Qaeda Organisation in the Islamic Maghreb said on Tuesday it would carry out more suicide bombings and urged Muslims to join its ranks as suicide bombers.

The death toll from political violence in Algeria jumped to a year high of an estimated 81 last month, including 28 Islamist rebels, compared with 45 killed in March, 18 in February and 21 in January, according to newspaper reports.

The figure raised fears that the north African nation might return to the daily violence of the 1990s when tens of thousands of Islamist rebels fought the army to try to set up Islamic rule.

Conflict broke out in Algeria in 1992 after military-backed authorities scrapped parliamentary elections that an Islamist party was set to win. Up to 200,000 people have been killed.

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Last updated:Mon May 14 12:11:39 2007