Algerian
troops have ambushed and killed at least 21 fighters allied to the
Islamic State of Iraq and Levant as they held a meeting east of the
capital in one of country’s largest military operations in recent years,
the defence ministry and security sources have said.
An official said the fighters were meeting in a forest on Tuesday to plan an attack in the capital Algiers.
The official said that two others were captured in the assault in the Boukram forest in Boumerdes, about 20km from Algiers.
A dozen Kalashnikovs, three rocket launchers and dozens of homemade bombs were said to have been recovered.
“This
is a major counterterrorism operation, the largest in terms of
militants killed in years,” a security source told the Reuters news
agency.
The
state news agency APS, quoting a defence ministry statement, said the
army was still pursuing other members of the group, but did not give
further details or mention the affiliation of the fighters involved.
However,
security sources said the strike was against members of the Caliphate
Soldiers, an al-Qaeda splinter faction that had declared allegiance to
ISIL who have taken over large swathes of Iraq and Syria.
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