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ALGIERS : Seven Islamic extremists and two members of Algeria's security forces have been killed in the violent run-up to parliamentary elections, newspapers reported Saturday.
Three armed Islamists and one soldier were killed Thursday when fighting broke out during a military operation in the Tizi Ouzou region of Kabylie, 110 kilometres (70 miles) east of Algiers, the Liberte newspaper said.
Another three extremists were killed on the same day in another military sweep, in Saida, 430 kilometres southwest of the capital, it added, as Algerians looked forward to the May 17 legislative polls.
All six Islamists were said to be members of the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), which styles itself as the North African wing of Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network.
On Friday, meanwhile, a village guard was killed and two other people injured when a bomb went off in an abandoned house in Beni Mehboub, in the El Milia region, 400 kilometres east of Algiers, newspapers said.
Earlier in the week, an armed Islamist was killed by security forces at Ait Yahia Moussa, near Tizi Ouzou, according to Saturday's press reports.
The upcoming elections are seen as a referendum against terrorism in Algeria in the wake of suicide blasts on April 11 which claimed 30 lives in the capital. In total, nearly 90 have died violently since the start of last month.
In a videotape aired Wednesday on the Al-Jazeera news channel, the purported chief of the GSPC, Abu Mussaab Abdul Wadud, urged his followers to join what he called a "war between infidels and believers".
The videotape included testimonies from the three suicide bombers who carried out the April 11 attacks in Algiers which also left more than 220 people injured.
"It is a crusade against Islam and a decisive war between the infidels and the believers," said Abu Mussaab Abdul Wadud in the videotape, the authenticity of which could not be verified.
The GSPC claimed responsibility for the Algiers attacks which targeted the prime minister's office, the suburban Interpol offices and a police special forces headquarters on the road to the capital's airport.
- AFP /ls
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