Algeria: 2,800 Islamists killed in three years

More than 2,800 Islamists were killed in confrontations with government troops in two Eastern districts in Algeria during three years.

Algerian daily La Novelle Republic said that from 1995 to 1997, more than 400 Islamists were killed in battles between the Islamic Salvation Army and the Armed Islamic Group, the main Islamic factions in Algeria. The confrontations took place in Jeijal and Qusantenah, the main headquarters of the Islamic Salvation Army.

The paper added that during the three said years the security forces killed most of the Armed Islamic Group members in Jeijal and Qusantenah, adding that only 150 Islamists out of 2600 were able to escape from security raids launched during that time.

In another development, Algerian arch-bishops called for pardoning the seven Islamists who were sentenced to death for assassinating Wahran archbishop Pierre Kalaveiri in August 1996, Al-Safir reported. On Monday, Wahran criminal court sentenced seven Islamists to death out of 12 convicted in assassinating the archbishop.