Reports emerged from Algeria Monday that al-Qaida militants in the country attacked a military bus last week, but gave up and fled.

A security source who asked not to be identified told Med Basin Newsline about 12 men carried out the 15-minute attack Wednesday near Yakourene, 60 miles east of Algiers.

"There were injuries and perhaps casualties among the terrorists," the source said. There was no report of military deaths.

It was the first al-Qaida attack in Algeria in about a month, which military sources said indicates progress in hunting down the insurgents.

Algeria has invested heavily in supplying special forces soldiers with more high-tech equipment, such as night-vision systems and new armored personnel carriers, in their search-and-destroy offensive against al-Qaida, the report said.

Four civilians and two Islamic insurgents were killed in November, down from 60 people killed in October, officials said. // Copyright 2007 by United Press International



Publication date: 10 December 2007   

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