Nine Algerian soldiers dead in jihadist attack

An Algerian police commander says Islamic militants have ambushed an Algerian army convoy in a forest west of Algiers, killing 11 soldiers. The attack was also reported in the local press.

This is the second attack jihadist groups have launched so far this month in provinces near Algiers.

The killed militants were believed to have ambushed an army detachment in the upper woods of Ain Defla on Friday, killing at least nine soldiers and wounding two others, according to the Ministry of Defense. The militants said France had failed to respond to a demand to drop out of the U.S.-led coalition against IS forces in Iraq and Syria.

Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) claimed the attack in an unverified statement posted online late on Saturday night. The supply didn’t give additional particulars concerning the assault which befell on Thursday night time in the Ain Defla space.

“Members of the People’s National Army immediately proceeded to seal off the area and unleashed a vast operation to flush out and kill the criminals”, it said in a statement.

This is the deadliest attack on Algeria’s army since April 2014, when 15 soldiers were killed in the country’s mountainous east.