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Algerian army killed 109 'terrorists' and arrested 36 in 2015

Country's defence ministry offers no figure for the military's losses in the same period
Algerian soldiers have carried out a string of raids this year (AFP)

The Algerian army killed a total of 109 "terrorists", the term used by the government for armed Islamist fighters, and arrested another 36 in 2015, according to the defence ministry on Monday.

Troops also seized explosives, assault rifles, rocket launchers and "a large amount of all sorts of munitions, including 182 improvised bombs, 132 mines and five rockets", the ministry said in a statement.

The ministry gave no figure for the military's losses in the same period.

A dozen soldiers were killed in mid-July in an ambush laid by militants southwest of Algiers.

Amnesty International has previously criticised Algerian authorities for a string of alleged abuses against terrorism suspects, including incommunicado detention, torture and other ill-treatment. 

Algeria suffered a civil war in the 1990s in which 200,000 people were killed. Armed groups remain active in the centre and east of the country.

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