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Thirteen Killed In 48 Hours In Algeria
ALGIERS, March 11 (News Agencies) - Thirteen people, including 10 armed Islamists, have been killed with eight others injured in the previous 48 hours in Algeria, local media reported Sunday.
A high school student was killed and three wounded on Saturday in Haizer, near Bouira, 120 kilometers (75 miles) east of Algiers, when armed assailants riddled the van in which they were traveling with machine gun fire.
Newspapers attributed the attack to the hardline Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC).
Also on Saturday, Algerian security forces stated they killed 10 armed Islaminsts in a raid near Batna, 430 kilometers east of the capital, the daily Ech Chourouk reported, adding that troops had used helicopters and missiles in the sweep.
One soldier was killed along with one-armed civilian on Friday when a bomb exploded in Oued Soudane, in the region near Skikda, 500 kilometers east of Algiers, newspapers reported. Five soldiers were hurt in the blast.
More than 100 people have been killed in clashes since the start of the month, according to a toll compiled from Algerian media reports.
On Saturday violent clashes in Algeria had left 63 people dead in the previous 72 hours, including 58-armed Islamists, local media reported Saturday.
Fifty armed extremists, including 12 commanders of the GSPC, were killed Friday after a two-week operation conducted in the region of Setif, 300 kilometers (190 miles) east of Algiers, the daily Le Jeune Independent reported.
The GSPC leaders were holding a high-level meeting when they were surrounded by security forces and forced to hole up in a cave, the paper said.
The GSPC members initially refused to surrender, but were later "annihilated" by the army who bombed the entrance to the cave, the paper reported, without saying if any Algerian troops were hurt or killed.
Eight other Islamists were killed in separate clashes Thursday in the province of Bouira, 120 kilometers east of the capital Algiers, the daily El Watan said.
On Wednesday, an armed group in Bordj El-Kiffan assassinated a senior cleric, 10 kilometers east of Algiers.
Armed Islamists reportedly killed two people on Friday near Tiaret, 340 kilometers west of Algiers. Two soldiers were also killed in the last few days, the body of one found headless and bound, newspapers reported.
Algeria's civil war broke out in 1992 after the military stepped in to prevent the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) from winning democratic elections.
More than 100,000 people - civilians, opposition and security forces - have lost their lives in the conflict.
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