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Two killed in clash between Algerian police, militants

05 July 2011 01:27 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. A policeman and an armed militant were killed on Monday when armed men attacked a policeman standing guard in Tizi Ouzou, east of Algiers, French-language newspaper El Watan reported, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

The clash occurred at about 11:00 a.m. local time (1000 GMT), when the armed men targeted a policeman standing guard in the center of Ain El Hammam city, the newspaper said on its website.

Another policeman was wounded in the clash.

Algeria has been facing increasing threat by Islamist militants since the 1990s. The security forces have recently launched massive military operations against pro-al-Qaida groups, including the al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).

The AQIM launched sporadic bombings and attacks across Algeria, but the level of violence in the North African nation has dropped recently.