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June 26, 2006
Algeria: Army Kills 19 Islamists In Gun Battle
News from Sapa and Agence France Presse via South Africa's Mail & Guardian and today's Sunday Times reports that yesterday (Sunday), the Algerian army, backed up by police, launched an assault against Islamists in the Edough mountains.
These mountains lie 375 miles east of Algiers, the capital. Heavy artillery and rockets, fired from helicopters, were used in the attack. The area targeted was between the villages of Ain Barbar, Ramanatte and Toumiat. Eight soldiers were wounded.
There has recently been an insurgency since the start of June, led by the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), and the current death toll now stands at 53, including 27 Islamists. The GSPC has outright ignored any attempt by President Abdelaziz Bouteflika to offer a policy of "national reconciliation".
When a referendum was held on 29 September last year, the population voted to offer an amnesty to Islamist rebels who had killed 150,000 people, mostly civilians, since 1992. The GSPC, which has links to Al Qaeda, was the first to reject the amnesty.
On June 20, five civilans were killed by rebels in Blida, 30 miles south of the capital, and seven soldiers were killed on June 21, when their patrol was ambushed in Boura in Kabylie, 75 miles east of Algiers.
Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at June 26, 2006 6:58 AM
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