Algerian security forces recovered the bullet-ridden bodies of two men east of Algiers, they said Wednesday, bringing to nine the number of deaths related to Islamic extremism in the north African country already this year.
The two victims were killed on Tuesday, and their bodies were discovered by civilians near Boumerdes, around 50 kilometers (30 miles) from the capital, the source said.
Two others died after their throats were slit by Islamic extremists this week in northeastern Algeria, newspapers said Wednesday.
The victims, who had just completed their military service, were killed Monday in Beni Zeid, in the region of Skikda, some 500 kilometers (300 miles) east of Algiers, the papers said.
Armed Islamists, who have been waging an insurgency since 1992, often target young people enrolled in or fresh out of the military.
In other violence, an Islamic extremist was killed on Tuesday by security forces in the Djelfa region south of the capital, and another died in clashes on Monday in Beni Amrane, near Boumerdes, newspapers reported.
On Tuesday, the press reported that three people, including an army officer, were killed and two others injured in separate incidents of bloodletting.
On Monday, reports said Islamic extremists killed a man and four children in an overnight attack on a town south of Algiers.
More than 100,000 people have died in Algeria since Islamic militants took up arms in 1992 after the army called off the second round of elections the Islamic Salvation Front was poised to win -- ALGIERS (AFP)
