Algerian security forces kill 11 Islamic insurgents

Algerian security forces have killed 11 suspected members of an Islamic insurgency group in sweeps east of the capital.

But the official APS news agency has denied newspaper reports that 12 local guards working with security forces were killed in a raid on their barracks in eastern Algeria.

The 11 insurgents were suspected members of the Salafist Group for Call and Combat, known as the GSPC.

It is led by Hassan Hattab and is on a US blacklist of terrorist organisations.

They were killed in separate operations by armed forces in recent days near Setif, 185 miles east of Algiers, and Djelfa, 170 miles southeast of the capital.

Algerian newspapers carry almost daily reports of killings of insurgents, security forces and civilians since violence erupted in 1992 following the army's decision to cancel legislative elections that a Muslim fundamentalist party was poised to win.

An estimated 120,000 people are believed to have died since the violence began.