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Algerian army kills IS-linked militant, arrests another

Xinhua, April 19, 2017 Adjust font size:

Algerian counter-terrorism forces on Wednesday killed an armed militant and arrested another in Constantine province, located 450 km east of capital Algiers, according to local media reports.

Quoting a security source, TSA news website specified that this operation was conducted by a joint security unit composed of army and police elements, as they intercepted the two terrorists in the locality of El Khroub.

One, named Halfaoui, was captured alive; and the other, M. Youcef alias Zoubeir, was shot dead. Zoubeir was suspected of having attempted to commit a suicide attack, the source noted.

The two were on the wanted list of the security forces, as detectives believe that they participated in the assassination of a police officer in downtown Constantine last October.

They were members of an Islamic State (IS) affiliated group led by Noureddine Laouira, who was killed by army troops in March 2017 in Constantine.

Located in a region plagued by unprecedented security and political instability, Algeria faces ongoing terrorist threats, experts said.

A few militants affiliated to al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and recently established IS affiliate groups are still taking refuge in the dense woods in the north, and remote desert areas near the troubled Libya and Mali. Endit