al-Qaida Organisation in Algeria still active and deadly

Four Algerian soldiers and two Islamic extremists have been killed in clashes in the north of the country, local press reports said Tuesday.

According to French-language Liberte, the security forces engaged a group of extremists from Sunday night to Monday in Tenes area in Chelf province, 200 kilometers west of Algiers.

The fighting left four soldiers and two extremists dead, the paper said, noting that the army has deployed massive number of troops to encircle the area where the militants are holing up.
The paper said also that the Algerian security forces killed two extremists on Saturday in two separate incidents in the north.

One of the pair was killed in Akfadou commune in Bejaia province, 250 kilometers east of the capital. The other was killed in clashes with troops in the neighboring province of Bordj Bou Arreidj.
Algerians have faced an increasing threat by Islamist militants since the 1990s. The security forces have recently launched massive military operations against pro-al-Qaida groups, including the al-Qaida Organization in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).