SECURITY forces killed 20 Muslim guerrillas after they ambushed a convoy carrying medicines in western Algeria, an Algerian newspaper said yesterday.
El Watan said troops killed the rebels in Saida province last week after the ambush, in which four civilians were killed. The newspaper also said Le Matin that suspected Muslim rebels detonated a homemade bomb in a train early on Saturday killing one passenger and wounding three.
Another newspaper, Le Matin, said the bomb explosion only wounded five passengers on the train, which was travelling from El Affroun, west of the capital, to Algiers.
It was the third bomb to be planted on a train in the past week. Two earlier ones, in two coaches of the same train, wounded at least 46 people, while one newspaper also said two people were killed.
Suspected Muslim guerrillas on Thursday shot dead a photographer, Louisa Ait Adda, working for the stateowned Audivisual Production National Office in central Algiers, said Le Matin.
According to Algerian newspaper reports, more than 200 civilians have been killed in Algeria since a general election, seen by the authorities as a step towards ending violence, was held on June 5th this year.
Ten political parties, including moderate Islamists, won seats in Algeria's first multiparty National Assembly (lower house). The government barred radical Islamists from participation in the poll.
About 60,000 people have been killed in Algeria since early 1992 when the authorities cancelled a general election in which radical Muslim fundamentalists had taken a huge lead.