Algerian rebels kill 7 policemen ambush - papers

ALGIERS, March 5 (Reuters) Suspected Islamist militants killed seven policemen in Algeria in an ambush, local newspapers reported today, the latest in a spate of bombings and ambushes.

The rebels exploded home-made bombs on two vehicles carrying policemen and then machine-gunned them, killing five policemen and wounding three others yesterday in Tizi Ouzou province, some 100 km east of Algiers, the newspapers said.

Two more policemen died later from their wounds after being taken to hospital, El Watan, Le Soir d'Algerie and Le Quotidien d'Oran dailies added. At least two rebels were killled by government troops in a clash following the ambush, said El Watan.

Authorities were not immediately available for comment.

Seven bombs went off almost simultaneously in the same province on February. 13, killing six people.

Al Qaeda Organisation in the Islamic Maghreb, previously known as Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), had claimed responsibility for the February. 13 bombings.

No rebel group has claimed responsibility for Sunday's attack, which came a day after three Algerians and a Russian were killed in a roadside bombing.

The violence broke out in Algeria in 1992 after the military-backed authorities, fearing an Iran-style revolution, scrapped a parliamentary election that an Islamist political party, the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS), was set to win.

Up to 200,000 people were killed in the ensuing bloodshed. But rebel attacks have sharply fallen in recent years.

REUTERS PDM PM1610