The Algerian army will get its first advanced weaponry from the United States soon to beef up a strategy against Islamic rebels now apparently on the offensive again, local press reports said on Thursday.
Saout al Ahrar daily, mouthpiece of the ruling National Liberation Front, said the army "prepared a new security plan to fight terrorism in Algeria by intensifying the security presence in all provinces...with the help of advanced arms Algeria will receive from Washington in the next few days."
Washington has sold Algeria military equipment in recent years, such as radios, Humvee vehicles, small aircraft for border security and spare parts for C-130 transport planes.
The Algerian newspaper said the army's new strategy was in response to bolder and bloodier attacks by Islamic militants.
Meanwhile, Le Matin newspaper said eight soldiers were killed on Wednesday in Sidi-Ali Bounab, a thick forest and mountainous area in the province of Tizi-Ouzou, 100 kilometres east of Algiers. According to the newspaper, two bombs were set off by remote control as troops made a routine patrol in the region.
The latest killings raise this year's death toll to over 100 in just nine days. (Albawaba.com)
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