Al-qaeda-aligned Islamic militants have killed 10 people, including seven soldiers, in separate ambushes in Algeria, newspapers reported today.
The attacks came a week ahead of a national referendum on a partial amnesty aimed at rebels fighting for a purist Islamic state.
Suspected rebels detonated a home-made bomb killing seven soldiers and their civilian driver in the Jijel province, some 350 km (220 miles) east of the capital Algiers, newspapers, including El Watan, said citing unnamed sources.
Rebels believed to belong to the outlawed Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), hiding on both sides of the road, then started firing with automatic weapons on the military convoy. Four soldiers were also wounded.
Authorities were not immediately available for comment. They usually do not comment on rebel attacks.
In another attack, some 25 heavily-armed militants staged a fake roadblock and cut the throats of two civilian after stopping their car on a road in the east province Skikda, newspapers said.
Six soldiers were wounded in another bomb explosion on the same day in Boumerdes province, some 50 km east of Algiers.
The ambushes were blamed on the GSPC, which is split on whether to support a September 29 referendum on a partial amnesty in exchange for laying down their arms.
A nationwide insurgency broke out when the army-backed authorities cancelled parliamentary elections that a now-banned radical Islamist party was poised to win in 1992.
The level of violence has fallen sharply in recent years.