Algerian soldiers in military operation Tizi Ouzou province The Algerian army launched a wide scale military operation backed up by air strikes to hunt down suspected militants who had previously ambushed and killed soldiers in Tizi Ouzou province, a security source said. Air force fighter jets conducted two air raids on the al-Qaida strongholds in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) in the mountains of Azazga and Sidi Ali Bouneb in Tizi Ouzou, about 120 km east the capital Algiers.
The source said that about 1,000 troops, including special forces, were participating in this operation. He added that the armed group was comprised of some 30 members and that AQIM leader Abdelmalek Droudkel, alias Abu Musab Abdul Wadud, had likely led the ambush.
The militants reportedly used modern bombs and rocket-propelled grenades smuggled from Libya, the source said.
Earlier on Sunday local media reported that as many as 14 soldiers were killed by a terrorist group in the upper mountains of Tizi Ouzou. The army forces managed to kill three of the suspected militants.
Source: XINHUA