Algerian troops kill 109 militants in 2015
Xinhua, December 28, 2015 Adjust font size:
Algerian army troops killed as many as 109 militants and arrested 36 others in 2015, according to an annual report released by Defense Ministry on Sunday.
"As part of the fight against terrorism, the National People's Army eliminated 109 terrorists and arrested 36 others," the report said, adding that 18 quintals of explosives, a large quantity of ammunition, 182 bombs, and 123 land mines were also retrieved.
The anti-terrorism troops also retrieved 105 Kalashnikov submachine guns, 21 automatic pistols, 237 riffles, 23 FMPK guns and 13 rocket launchers, and 5 missiles, the report said.
A violent civil war between security forces and Islamist insurgents hit Algeria in the nineties after the army canceled parliamentary elections in 1992 which the dissolved Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) was poised to win.
In 1992, the army canceled the electoral process that the FIS was poised to win. The North African nation was gone through a decade of civil war between security forces and Islamist insurgents that caused the death of more than 150,000 people, according to official figures.
Once in power in 1999, President Bouteflika launched a national reconciliation program that largely contributed in restoring peace in the country, as terrorists were offered amnesty and fair trials in exchange of laying down their arms. Endit