There was no official comment on the report. A security source, who did not want to be identified, told Reuters: "I can confirm the information which was given on the 11 gendarmes (paramilitary police)." The reported attack would mark the first time that the insurgents, who are linked to Al-Qaeda, have mounted such a deadly attack so far south in the Sahara desert.

The newspaper said on its Internet site www.elwatan.dz that the attack happened at dawn in the Tamanrasset region, near Algeria's border with Mali. The region is not close to any of energy exporter Algeria's major oil or gas fields.