23 extremists killed by Algerian forces

Algeria's Liberte newspaper said yesterday that Algerian soldiers killed 23 Islamic extremists that committed a massacre last month.

The newspaper quoted as a security official as saying that 23 rebels who carried out the El-Beed massacre were killed in a chase which ended on Monday, adding that the extremists killed 20 civilians on February 27 in El-Beed area, nearly 400 kilometers south of Algiers in the worst massacre to which civilians have been exposed this year.