Algeria: Soldiers killed by al-Qaeda militants, says report

Algiers, 13 May (AKI) - A group of six Algerian soldiers were killed in an ambush by rebels linked to al-Qaeda's north African wing, according to a report on Tuesday in the Kuwaiti news agency, Kuna.

The attack believed to have been carried out by the Al-Qaeda Organisation in the Islamic Maghreb, occurred on Sunday in Medea province, 90 kilometres southwest of the capital Algiers.

Soon after the ambush the army surrounded the entire area in order to try and capture the militants but they did not succeed, according to the report.

This is the second such attack in the last 10 days in the same area. The previous incident led to the death of local security agents in the village of Ain Bilkhair.

In a separate attack, Algerian newspaper El Khabar reported three soldiers were killed on Monday in an attack near the city of Bouira, 120 kilometres east of Algiers.

Despite these incidents, there has been a decline in the number of suicide attacks in the country in the past month.

Members of the al-Qaeda cell in central parts of the country announced in April that they would suspend suicide attacks in Algeria until the Ulema or religious leaders issue a fatwa or edict on the legitimacy of suicide attacks against civilian targets.