Algeria says army kills four ‘terrorists’

The Algerian defence ministry said the army killed four “terrorists” on Sunday in a mountainous region of the northwest.

A ministry statement said the operation was still ongoing in the Djebel Amrouna area about 130 kilometres (80 miles) west of Algiers.

It said soldiers had “eliminated four terrorists”, and seized four Kalashnikov assault rifles and ammunition.

The army regularly announces the arrests or deaths of “terrorists”, the authorities’ term for armed Islamists still active since the North African country’s 1992-2002 civil war.

Despite a 2005 Charter for Peace and Reconciliation aimed at turning the page on the violence, armed groups continue to mount sporadic attacks.

The so-called “black decade” of the civil war officially left 200,000 people dead.

According to the defence ministry, so far this year the army has “killed 21 terrorists, captured 8 others, and 38 terrorists have repented”.

It said “369 individuals supporting terrorist groups were arrested” in the same period, and more than 100 weapons were recovered.