15 persons killed, injured in acts of violence in Algeria

At least 5 Algerians were killed and other ten injured in new acts of violence by what were described by the Algerian dailies as extremist Islamic groups, despite the fact that a general pardon is expected before the end of the current year in this regard.

The Algerian daily Liberty quoted sources as saying that three members of the municipal national guards were killed and two others injured in a bomb explosion on Wednesday morning in Tebsa state, 630 km to the east of the capital.

The press sources said that three members of the national police forces were seriously injured in two coincided explosions in the same area two hours after the first explosion.

In a separate incident, the papers said that two civilians were killed and five injured in an ambush described as by extremists Islamists in a wooded area near Gleizan situated 450 km to the west of the capital.

The government forces started since several weeks large scale mopping up operations to the west and east of the country in search of what it called extremists.

No groups claimed responsibility for the recent attacks, but security experts say that members of al-Salafeyah group for call and fighting "al-Dawa Wal Jihad", the largest armed organization in Algeria, intensified the attacks in an attempt to obstruct the plans of the Algerian President Abdul Aziz Butaflika's offer of a large scale pardon later this year.

It is expected that huge number of the armed groups and members of the security forces suspected to be involved in violations will benefit from the pardon.