Algeria says troops kill three ‘terrorists’

Algerian military forces have killed three “dangerous terrorists” during a raid in the country’s north, the defense ministry said Sunday.

Authorities regularly report “terrorist” killings, often referring to armed terrorist groups that have remained active in the North African country years after its civil war which ended in 2002.

The defense ministry said in a statement that “as part of the fight against terrorism, an army detachment yesterday killed three dangerous terrorists” in Ain Defla province.

It named the three slain men as Debar Boumediene, Hamneche Ibrahim and Alali Mohamed, without elaborating on their group affiliation.

According to the statement, two Kalashnikov-type submachine guns, ammunition, and “other objects” were seized during the military operation.

Since the beginning of the year, the Algerian defense ministry has reported the killing of at least 35 “terrorists” and the arrests of 256 suspects “supporting terrorist armed groups.”

Despite a 2005 amnesty law following the end of the civil war, terrorist groups continue to carry out sporadic operations in the hydrocarbon-rich country, often in mountainous and sparsely populated areas.

The civil war broke out in 1992 after the army canceled Algeria’s first democratic elections when the winning Islamic Salvation Front vowed to establish an Islamic state.

Also called the Black Decade, the war left some 200,000 people dead, according to official figures.