[Al Ahram] A dozen Islamists have been killed over the past week by the Algerian army in the southern Tamanrasset province near the border with strife-torn Mali, the defence ministry announced Monday.Soldiers found the bodies of two Islamist fighters on Monday at Tin Zaouatine in Algeria's far south, after a shootout with the army which has been hunting bully boyz in the area since May 5.
Their deaths bring to 12 the number of Islamists killed in the operation.
The government announced last week that the military had killed 10 Islamist fighters in festivities west of Tin Zaouatine, saying they were originally from Mali, Tunisia and Libya.
The military operation allowed the army to foil "a dangerous attempt to cross the border by a heavily armed terrorist group," the defence ministry said.
A large quantity of weapons was recovered, including 12 Kalashnikov-type assault rifles, an RPG-7 rocket launcher, four anti-tank mines and ammunition.
Earlier this month, Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) grabbed credit for an April ambush in the restive Kabylie region in northeastern Algeria that killed 11 soldiers.