Algeria: Terrorist Explosion Kills Two Soldiers

An Algerian soldier during an operation against militants in Aid Defla mountains, west of Algiers (Reuters)
An Algerian soldier during an operation against militants in Aid Defla mountains, west of Algiers (Reuters)
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Algeria: Terrorist Explosion Kills Two Soldiers

An Algerian soldier during an operation against militants in Aid Defla mountains, west of Algiers (Reuters)
An Algerian soldier during an operation against militants in Aid Defla mountains, west of Algiers (Reuters)

Two soldiers were killed and another injured in an explosion south of the Algerian capital.

In a statement, the Ministry of Defense said that an army patrol was on an inspection mission in ​​Tachta in Ain Defla when a bomb exploded, killing two retired soldiers.

The statement confirmed that a third soldier sustained minor injuries.

Tachta has been one of the major terrorist strongholds in the country since its outbreak in the early nineties.

The statement highlighted that the army continues exerting efforts in combating terrorism, with complete determination to target the remnants of the terrorists and eliminate them wherever they are found across the entire national territory.

In another statement, the Ministry of Defense stated that a terrorist named Barbouchi Saidou, often referred to as Abdulaziz, surrendered to the military authorities at Baji Mukhtar tower in the sixth military.

Saidou was in carrying a submachine gun and ammunition.

The statement pointed out that he joined extremist groups in the African coast of Mali in 2014, noting that Barbouchi's cessation of terrorist activity reflects the determination and vigilance of the People's National Army in combating terrorism and all forms of crime, as well as the tireless efforts of the armed forces to establish security and stability across the entire national territory.



WHO Sends Over 1 Mln Polio Vaccines to Gaza to Protect Children 

Displaced Palestinians, who fled their houses due to Israeli strikes, look out from a window as they take shelter, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, July 24, 2024. (Reuters)
Displaced Palestinians, who fled their houses due to Israeli strikes, look out from a window as they take shelter, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, July 24, 2024. (Reuters)
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WHO Sends Over 1 Mln Polio Vaccines to Gaza to Protect Children 

Displaced Palestinians, who fled their houses due to Israeli strikes, look out from a window as they take shelter, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, July 24, 2024. (Reuters)
Displaced Palestinians, who fled their houses due to Israeli strikes, look out from a window as they take shelter, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, July 24, 2024. (Reuters)

The World Health Organization is sending more than one million polio vaccines to Gaza to be administered over the coming weeks to prevent children being infected after the virus was detected in sewage samples, its chief said on Friday.

"While no cases of polio have been recorded yet, without immediate action, it is just a matter of time before it reaches the thousands of children who have been left unprotected," Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in an opinion piece in Britain's The Guardian newspaper.

He wrote that children under five were most at risk from the viral disease, and especially infants under two since normal vaccination campaigns have been disrupted by more than nine months of conflict.

Poliomyelitis, which is spread mainly through the fecal-oral route, is a highly infectious virus that can invade the nervous system and cause paralysis. Cases of polio have declined by 99% worldwide since 1988 thanks to mass vaccination campaigns and efforts continue to eradicate it completely.

Israel's military said on Sunday it would start offering the polio vaccine to soldiers serving in the Gaza Strip after remnants of the virus were found in test samples in the enclave.

Besides polio, the UN reported last week a widespread increase in cases of Hepatitis A, dysentery and gastroenteritis as sanitary conditions deteriorate in Gaza, with sewage spilling into the streets near some camps for displaced people.