Fifteen people have been killed in Algeria's ongoing violence between security forces and armed Muslim fundamentalists fighting the secular regime and targeting civilians, press reports said Tuesday.
They said six of the latest dead were members of government-sponsored civilian self-defense units, and three were Islamic activists.
El Watan newspaper said three Islamic activists died in clashes on Sunday and Monday near Tenes in the western region of Chlef.
Three civilian militia members also died in fighting Monday and four were injured, the paper added.
In earlier violence, on Saturday, armed Islamic insurgents stopped a bus at a fake roadblock, seized five soldiers and cut their throats in the Batna area south-east of Algiers.
According to an unofficially tally the latest killings took to 36 the number of people killed in political violence in Algeria since November 27, which marked the start of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.
Algeria has been racked by violence opposing armed Islamic militants to the security forces since abortive elections in 1991 -- ALGIERS (AFP)
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