Troops kill 16 al-Qaida militants in Algeria

Algeria's state radio says the military has killed 16 militants linked to al-Qaida in a weekend raid on their secret base near the capital, Algiers.

Algeria's state radio says the military has killed 16 militants linked to al-Qaida in a weekend raid on their secret base near the capital, Algiers.

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French-language state radio says Interior Minister Yazid Zerhouni has raised the death toll among the militants from seven previously announced. Further details were not provided in the report on Tuesday.

Officials said the raid starting late on Friday near Blida was launched with information obtained from a terror support cell dismantled a week earlier. Blida is about 80 km south of Algiers.

The government has said the military killed 120 militants over the last six months from al-Qaida's north Africa wing.