More violence victims in Algeria

Algerian security forces said on Thursday that 13 persons were killed and another six wounded in an attack launched by Islamist extremists on Wednesday night in Medea, just 80 km south of the capital Algiers.

In a statement the security forces added that "a group of terrorists" launched the attack against Hamediey village. The statement added that four persons were killed and another four reported to be wounded in an explosion in a graveyard in Burqeiqa, near Tepaza.

Algerian dailies said on Thursday that three Islamists and one civilian were killed on Tuesday in Qusantinah and Medea. It added that security forces killed the three Islamists, including two women near Sosway at the entrance of Qusantinah during a vast mopping-up operation the security forces conducted following the killing of one woman and the wounding of her friend, a policeman. The civilian is a farmer who was killed by a bomb planted on his farm near Medea.

Meanwhile, MENA reported that the official spokesman for the Algerian Foreign ministry denied any contacts or mediation between Algerian officials and leaders of the Islamic Salvation Front.

The spokesman added that statements by the chairman of the Sudanese Nation's Council, Hassan al-Turabi, to the Algerian French language daily Le soire de Algeria that Sudan plays the role of a mediator in collaboration with the French intelligence between the Algerian government and leaders of the banned front in Holland are not right and groundless.