An Algerian soldier was killed Wednesday during a clash with armed Islamists in the country’s northeast, the defence ministry said in a statement. Lelmaya Sifeddine was killed “during a new clash with a terrorist group” during an ongoing operation in the province of Jijel, it said. On Tuesday, the ministry had reported that three Islamists were killed during a clash with the army in the same area.
Algerian authorities use the term “terrorist” to describe armed Islamist groups who have been active in the country since the early 1990s. Wednesday’s death brings to five the number of Algerian soldiers killed in Islamist attacks since the start of the year. Two soldiers were reported killed in late June when a bomb exploded during an operation in the north of the country, while another was killed earlier that month during a clash with “an armed terrorist group” in the central province of Ain Defla. Another died in a February attack claimed by the Islamic State jihadist group in Timiaouine, on the southern border with Mali.
A civil war during the 1990s pitted Islamist militants against the Algerian government, leaving 200,000 people dead. Despite a 2005 charter for peace and reconciliation designed to turn the page on the conflict, armed Islamist groups still remain active in some areas of the country, largely targeting security forces. The army regularly announces the arrest or death of militants in various regions of the country. In 2019, it said it had killed 15 armed Islamists and arrested 25 others, while another 44 had handed themselves in to authorities.
