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ALGIERS, Algeria – Islamist extremists attacked an army post and killed at least 13 soldiers watching the Algerian president's televised speech promising reforms, security officials said Saturday.
Two militants in the group were killed by soldiers at the post in Kabyle, some 80 miles (130 kilometers) east of Algiers, the officials said Saturday. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak to the press.
On Saturday, security forces swept areas including the Yakourene forest, a hideout of al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, in a search for other suspects, the officials said.
It was the deadliest attack on security forces since July 2009, when at least 14 soldiers were reported killed in an ambush on a military convoy in Damous, near the northern coastal city of Tipaza.
President Abdelaziz Bouteflika announced constitutional and electoral reforms Friday night "aimed at deepening the democratic process" amid upheavals in neighboring North African countries. In February, he lifted a 19-year-old state of emergency put in place at the start of a brutal Islamist insurgency. An estimated 200,000 people — insurgents, civilians and soldiers — were killed after violence erupted in 1992, when the army canceled the country's first multiparty elections and stepped in to prevent a likely victory by a Muslim fundamentalist party.
Security forces have brought calm to much of the country, but sporadic attacks by insurgents continue, particularly in the mountainous Kabyle region, a stronghold for al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, which was officially formed in 2006 from the remnants of an insurgency movement, the Salafist Group for Call and Combat.
Two militants in the group were killed by soldiers at the post in Kabyle, some 80 miles (130 kilometers) east of Algiers, the officials said Saturday. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak to the press.
On Saturday, security forces swept areas including the Yakourene forest, a hideout of al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, in a search for other suspects, the officials said.
It was the deadliest attack on security forces since July 2009, when at least 14 soldiers were reported killed in an ambush on a military convoy in Damous, near the northern coastal city of Tipaza.
President Abdelaziz Bouteflika announced constitutional and electoral reforms Friday night "aimed at deepening the democratic process" amid upheavals in neighboring North African countries. In February, he lifted a 19-year-old state of emergency put in place at the start of a brutal Islamist insurgency. An estimated 200,000 people — insurgents, civilians and soldiers — were killed after violence erupted in 1992, when the army canceled the country's first multiparty elections and stepped in to prevent a likely victory by a Muslim fundamentalist party.
Security forces have brought calm to much of the country, but sporadic attacks by insurgents continue, particularly in the mountainous Kabyle region, a stronghold for al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, which was officially formed in 2006 from the remnants of an insurgency movement, the Salafist Group for Call and Combat.
