Algeria: Al-Qaeda suspects kill five soldiers

  1. Posted on Monday 4 October 2010 - 10:00
    KingsleyKobo
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    Kingsley Kobo, AfricaNews reporter in Abidjan, Ivory Coast
    Security officials from Algeria say Islamist militants suspected to be members of al-Qaeda's North African wing, have bombed a convoy of Algerian troops, killing five and injuring 10. The troops were on an operation to eradicate pockets of militants from the Kabylia region about 100 km east of the capital Algiers, when several explosive devices went off near the town of Zekri in Tizi Ouzou province.
    Algeria:Al-Qaeda suspects kill five soldiers in a bomb blast
    The militants used a remote-controlled bomb that exploded a truck transporting troops, killing five and injuring 10, according to the officials’ precisions, Reuters said.

    About 200,000 people have been killed in the North African country since violence broke out in the early 1990s between Islamist rebels and government security forces.

    High-ranking army officers from countries in the Sahel region - Mali, Niger, Mauritania and Algeria – last week set up a centre for joint operations against Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) - the north African wing of Osama bin Laden’s network – according to AFP.

    The centre would share information on the activities of terrorist groups in the region, their movements and the identities of members.

    Five French and two African uranium workers were kidnapped mid September in Niger by the AQIM.

    France said it was ready to negotiate with AQIM and has since deployed an 80-strong military intelligence unit and spotter planes to the Sahara to try to track down the AQIM gang.

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