Two Algerian soldiers killed during a combing operation in Chlef (Army)

Two Algerian soldiers were killed on Saturday during a combing operation in the Chlef region (203 km from Algiers), the Algerian Ministry of National Defense announced on Sunday.

The ministry said during a search and combing operation carried out by a detachment of the National People’s Army in the locality of Béni-Bouateb, wilaya of Chlef, a homemade bomb exploded killing two soldiers.

On Monday, a soldier and an alleged jihadist were killed in a shootout in the town of Tafasour, near Sidi Belabbes, about 520 kilometers west of the capital.

On February 11, a suicide bomber aboard a car bomb detonated his explosives while trying to forcefully enter a military base located at Bordj Badji Mokhtar, in the Timiaouine border area, more than 1,700 km south of Algiers, according to the Algerian Ministry of Defense.

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the suicide attack, in which an Algerian soldier was killed.

The activity of radical Islamist movements has increased in recent years in the Sahel countries, as well as in the vast desert territory in southern Algeria. Instability in Libya, Nigeria and Mali aggravated the situation.

According to the Algerian Defense Ministry, security forces killed 15 suspected terrorists in 2019 and arrested 28 others, in addition to the destruction of a hundred pillboxes, the seizure of 750 homemade bombs and 1,900 kilos of explosive materials.