Algerian troops kill six Islamic militants-papers

ALGIERS, May 13 (Reuters) Algerian troops hunting Islamist rebels killed six members of al Qaeda's north Africa wing yesterday in fighting east and west of Algiers, newspapers reported today.

Troops backed by helicopters killed four rebels in the region of Boumerdes town, 50 km east of Algiers, and two rebels in the region of Tlemcen, 700 km west of the capital, Liberte and Le Soir d'Algerie said.

The oil- and gas-exporting country has been on alert since a triple suicide bombing killed 33 people in Algiers on April 11.

The al Qaeda Organisation in the Islamic Maghreb, previously known as the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat, or GSPC, claimed responsibility for the bombings.

The group said on Tuesday it would carry out more suicide bombings and urged Muslims to join its ranks as suicide bombers.

The death toll from political violence in Algeria jumped to a year high of an estimated 81 last month, including 28 Islamist rebels, compared with 45 killed in March, 18 in February and 21 in January, according to newspaper reports.

The figure raised fears that the north African nation might return to the intense political violence of the 1990s when tens of thousands of Islamist guerrillas fought the army to try to set up Islamic rule.

Conflict broke out in Algeria in 1992 after military-backed authorities scrapped parliamentary elections that an Islamist party was set to win. Up to 200,000 people have been killed in the bloodshed.

The level of violence has dropped sharply since the 1990s after the government offered the rebels a series of amnesties to promote national reconciliation.

REUTERS TB RAI2137