Algerian security forces killed three suspected terrorists in a sweep in the east of the country, while Islamic extremists disguised as police killed two communal guards at a fake checkpoint, official and independent media reported Sunday.
The three suspected insurgents were killed in a shootout early Saturday during a sweep by army and police in the Tebessa region, some 600 kilometers (370 miles) east of capital, the state-run APS news agency said. It did not give their identities but said two of the slain men were accused of having previously killed a security officer.
A security official declined to say whether there were any casualties among security forces or if arrests had been made during the sweep.
Separately on Saturday, militants killed two communal guards at a fake check point near Tizi Ouzou, some 120 kilometers (75 miles) east of Algiers, independent media reported.
The daily newspaper Liberte quoted local security sources as saying the Islamist militants were dressed in stolen uniforms when they stopped a bus to check passengers' identities.
Two passengers belonged to the communal guards, an armed citizens' unit that supplements police in rural areas. The two men were executed on the spot, Liberte and other newspapers reported.
Similar killings of communal guards or security forces have been reported in various parts of the country in recent weeks.
Violence has dramatically increased in Algeria since 2006 when a leftover militant group from a 15-year-old Islamic insurgency joined forces with al-Qaida under the name Al-Qaida in Islamic North Africa.
A string of bombings and attacks killed over 100 people in August alone, according to an Associated Press count.
The insurgency began in 1992 when the army canceled national elections to squelch a likely victory by Muslim fundamentalists. The insurgency had been reduced to sporadic violence but returned as a threat when the Salafist Group of Call and Combat was reborn as an al-Qaida affiliate.
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