Algerian army forces kill 22 militants

The Algerian army has killed more than 20 militants as they were meeting to plan attacks on the country’s capital of Algiers, officials say.

The Algerian Defense Ministry said its forces killed 22 armed men in an operation some 100 kilometers (60 miles) east of Algiers on Tuesday.

An official of the gendarmerie’s command post in Boumerdes Province said on condition of anonymity that two militants were also captured in the raid on the venue of a militant meeting in the Boukram Forest.

In addition, a dozen Kalashnikovs, three rocket launchers and dozens of homemade bombs were also retrieved in the operation.

The raid was the deadliest assault on armed groups in the North African country in recent times. Both al-Qaeda and ISIL terrorist groups are present in Algeria, operating mostly in mountainous northern areas.

Last month, Algerian forces killed four armed militants and seized military hardware, including a significant amount of ammunition, explosives, and weapons.

Armed clashes involving al-Qaeda-linked militants in Algeria have dropped in numbers considerably since the widespread unrest across the country in the 1990s ended. However, groups affiliated with the terrorist group in the Maghreb continue to carry out intermittent armed assaults, mostly against the country’s security forces.

The Algerian military said more than 100 armed militants were killed across the nation in 2014.