ALGIERS, 13 March 2005 — Two policemen and two armed extremists were killed in recent clashes in Algeria, press reports said yesterday. The policemen died Thursday in a machine-gun attack on a roadblock in the Bouira region, 120 kilometers southeast of Algiers, in which two of their colleagues were also wounded. The previous evening two gunmen were shot dead by security forces during a search operation in Boumerdes region, 50 kilometers east of the capital. Weapons and ammunition were captured in the operation against the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC).
The casualty toll from a 13-year-old revolt by extremists has been on the decline since hundreds of the armed guerrillas accepted amnesty terms while the hard-liners have been largely crushed by the security forces, according to the Defense Ministry. But some 70 people have been killed since the start of the year, according to officials and press reports. Last month, Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika put the official death toll from the insurgency at 150,000 since 1992, half as many again as last given.
