Algerian rebels shot dead eight soldiers in an ambush in the heaviest reported government losses for seven months in the north African countryÂ’s lingering political violence, newspapers reported yesterday. The papers Liberte, El Watan and El Khabar said the eight, including an officer, were ambushed in wooded mountains while on a patrol in the Ain Defla region 120-km south-west of Algiers on Thursday. It was the largest reported single loss of state personnel to politically-motivated fighting since Islamist guerrillas killed 13 customs agents in the desert south in April. Liberte and Khabar said they believed the attack was carried out by the main rebel group, the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), which has consistently rejected peace overtures from the government and announced in September it had joined Al Qaeda. The army declined immediate comment. It does not normally comment on security matters. The newspapers said the attackers, estimated to number up to 30, took the arms and uniforms of the dead soldiers and fled.