An armed Muslim fundamentalist group has killed 21 Algerian soldiers in an ambush at Moulay Larbi, 430km southwest of the capital Algiers, an official source said Tuesday. The soldiers were attacked in rocky mountain terrain in the Saida region, the source told AFP.
The troops had been carrying out a search operation in the area well known to be a hideout of the hard-line Armed Islamic Group (GIA), one of the two main movements fighting the secular government.
The attack came two days after GIA made known the name of its new leader after the death on February 8 of Antar Zouabri, who was tracked down by security forces at Boufarik, 35km south of Algiers.
The GIA's new national emir, Rachid Abou Tourab, said in a statement released to the daily Al-Fajr that he would pursue the movement's policies until Algeria was an Islamic state.
There would be "neither truce, nor dialogue, nor reconciliation, nor security, but blood, blood, destruction, destruction," his statement said. (Albawaba.com)
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