Two Algerian Soldiers Killed in Clash With Extremists

Picture made available by the Algerian Ministry of Defense on April 30, 2019, shows soldiers taking part in manoeuvres at an undisclosed location in Algeria. (File/AFP)
Picture made available by the Algerian Ministry of Defense on April 30, 2019, shows soldiers taking part in manoeuvres at an undisclosed location in Algeria. (File/AFP)
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Two Algerian Soldiers Killed in Clash With Extremists

Picture made available by the Algerian Ministry of Defense on April 30, 2019, shows soldiers taking part in manoeuvres at an undisclosed location in Algeria. (File/AFP)
Picture made available by the Algerian Ministry of Defense on April 30, 2019, shows soldiers taking part in manoeuvres at an undisclosed location in Algeria. (File/AFP)

Two Algerian soldiers were killed on Saturday in a clash with extremists, four of whom were also killed, the defense ministry said.

“During a search operation... a detachment of the People’s National Armed Forces shot dead four terrorists” west of the capital, a ministry statement said.

It identified the soldiers killed in the Tipaza district as a sergeant and a corporal, in one of the deadliest such clashes in recent years.

Several firearms were recovered, the ministry said, adding that the operation was still underway, AFP reported.

Between 1992 and 2002, a civil war pitting the army against multiple extremist groups left an estimated 200,000 people dead.

A 2005 Charter for Peace and Reconciliation was supposed to have turned the page on the conflict, but extremist groups continue to carry out sporadic operations.

Last month, a clash in the Jijel region east of Algiers killed an army staff sergeant and three suspected militants. The army later announced it had captured a “dangerous terrorist.”

Over the course of last year, 21 militants were killed, nine were captured and seven surrendered during Algerian army operations, the military said in a tally published on Saturday.

A statement added that the army had arrested 108 people who had provided support to the militants last year, as well as seizing dozens of firearms, while experts neutralized nearly 400 bombs and mines.



French, Algerian Ties ‘Back to Normal’, France Says after Talks

This handout photograph released by French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs (MEAE) shows France's Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot (L) being received by Algeria's President Abdelmajid Tebboune in Algiers on April 6, 2025. (French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs / AFP)
This handout photograph released by French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs (MEAE) shows France's Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot (L) being received by Algeria's President Abdelmajid Tebboune in Algiers on April 6, 2025. (French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs / AFP)
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French, Algerian Ties ‘Back to Normal’, France Says after Talks

This handout photograph released by French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs (MEAE) shows France's Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot (L) being received by Algeria's President Abdelmajid Tebboune in Algiers on April 6, 2025. (French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs / AFP)
This handout photograph released by French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs (MEAE) shows France's Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot (L) being received by Algeria's President Abdelmajid Tebboune in Algiers on April 6, 2025. (French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs / AFP)

France's foreign minister said on Sunday that ties with Algeria were back to normal after he held 2 1/2 hours of talks with Algeria's president following months of bickering that have hurt Paris' economic and security interests in its former colony.

Ties between Paris and Algiers have been complicated for decades, but took a turn for the worse last July when Macron angered Algeria by recognizing a plan for autonomy for the Western Sahara region under Moroccan sovereignty.

A poor relationship has major security, economic and social repercussions: trade is extensive and some 10% of France's 68 million population has links to Algeria, according to French officials.

"We are reactivating as of today all the mechanisms of cooperation in all sectors. We are going back to normal and to repeat the words of President (Abdelmadjid) Tebboune: 'the curtain is lifted'," Jean-Noel Barrot said in a statement at the presidential palace in Algiers after 2 1/2 hours of talks.

His visit comes after a call between President Emmanuel Macron and his counterpart Tebboune on March 31, during which the two agreed to a broad roadmap to calm tensions.

French officials say Algiers had put obstacles to administrative authorizations and new financing for French firms operating in the country.

Nowhere was that felt more than in wheat imports. Traders say the diplomatic rift led Algerian grains agency OAIC to tacitly exclude French wheat and firms in its import tenders since October. OAIC has said it treats all suppliers fairly, applying technical requirements.

Barrot said he had specifically brought up the difficulties regarding economic exchanges, notably in the agrobusiness, automobile and maritime transport sectors.

"President Tebboune reassured me of his will to give them new impetus," Barrot said.

Beyond business, the relationship has also soured to the point where security cooperation stopped. The detention by Algiers in November of 80-year-old Franco-Algerian author Boualem Sansal also worsened the relationship.

He has since been sentenced to five years in prison. Barrot said he hoped a gesture of "humanity" could be made by Algiers given his age and health.

With Macron's government under pressure to toughen immigration policies, the spat has fed into domestic politics in both countries.

Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau has called for a 1968 pact between the two countries that makes it easier for Algerians to settle in France to be reviewed, after Algiers refused to take back some of its citizens who were ordered to leave France under the "OQTF" (obligation to leave French territory) deportation regime.

Barrot said Retailleau would soon go to Algiers and that the two sides would resume cooperation on judicial issues.

The relationship between the two countries is scarred by the trauma of the 1954-1962 war in which the North African country, which had a large settler population and was treated as an integral part of France under colonial rule, won independence.