Two Algerian soldiers died Saturday evening in the explosion of a home-made bomb during an army sweep in Medea, in the north of Algeria, the Defense Ministry announced on Sunday.
Four soldiers killed since the beginning of the year
During an operation excavation and raking
[…] in the Prefecture of Medea, south of Algiers, and following the explosion of a home-made bomb, two soldiers fell as a martyr […] Captain Bensmaïl Fateh and Master Corporal Khaldi Zakaria
, is it stated in the press release.
Three soldiers were killed in eight days, and four since the start of the year.
On June 20, a corporal was killed during a skirmish with terrorists
in Ain Defla (center). In early February, a soldier was killed in a car bomb attack in Timiaouine, in southern Algeria, on the border with Mali.
Algerian authorities use the word terrorist
to designate the armed Islamists who have been active in the country since the early 1990s. The Defense Ministry said it had reinforced the necessary security measures, by continuing the excavation and raking operations in this area
. The army regularly announces the arrest or death of armed Islamists in different regions of the country.
For the year 2019, she reported killing 15 armed Islamists and arresting 25 others. In the same year, 44 Islamists surrendered, the same source said.
Despite the implementation in 2005 of a Charter for Peace and Reconciliation, supposed to turn the page on the dark decade
(1992-2002) of the civil war which left some 200,000 dead, Islamist armed groups remain active, particularly in the center-east of the country, where they generally attack the security forces.
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