(Adds al Qaeda statement) ALGIERS, July 24 (Reuters) - Algerian military sources were quoted as saying on Tuesday that 20 members of al Qaeda were killed when militants attacked in the troubled Kabylie region, prompting a major counter-offensive by security forces. Al Qaeda Organisation in the Islamic Maghreb denied the reports and said they were "based on leaks by the pagan Algerian army and carried by newspapers without authentication". "These are pure lies and falsifications meant to cover their ugly defeat at the hands of the mujahideen in the Yakourene raid," the group said in a statement on an Islamist Web site. The group did not say when the raid took place. Algeria's El Watan and Liberte newspapers quoted sources close to the troops carrying out the operation as saying the militants were killed over the past two days after the army surrounded them in a forest. The papers said the showdown followed more than a week of fighting that began on July 14 when the army foiled an al Qaeda attack on two police stations in Yakourene village in Tizi Ouzou province about 100 km (60 miles) east of Algiers. Two hours of fighting ensued in which four members of the group were killed and some 60 others fled to a nearby forest. The military then used night vision equipment to locate the militants before starting to bomb them on Sunday, forcing some to surrender, the newspapers said. The army later found a computer containing files listing the names of 572 militants, all thought to have attended a meeting of al Qaeda's North African wing days before the attack on the police stations, the newspapers said. The authorities have yet to comment on the offensive. The group, previously known as the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat, has claimed responsibility for several attacks in recent months. A suicide bomber killed eight government soldiers inside an army barracks in the neighbouring province of Bouira on July 11. In April, a triple suicide attack killed 33 people in Algiers. The group said on Monday it was planning a violent campaign against "infidels" and government forces in the Maghreb region and urged Muslims to stay away from possible targets, according to a statement posted on the Internet. Up to 200,000 people have been killed in Algeria since 1992 after military-backed authorities scrapped parliamentary elections that an Islamist party was poised to win. The violence has subsided in recent years but some bloodshed continues, mainly in Kabylie and nearby areas. (Additional reporting by Inal Ersan in Dubai)
