Thirty killed east of Algiers since Sunday

Reports from Algeria say at least thirty people have been killed in the mountainous Kabylie region, east of Algiers, since Sunday.

Local newspapers said the dead included eighteen suspected Islamic militants, who were killed in an operation by the security forces between the towns of Setif and Bajaia, and five police officers, who were shot dead at a roadblock in Tighzirt.

Correspondents say Tighzirt is a tourist centre in the summer, but that armed Islamic militants are believed to be sheltering in Mizrana forest nearby.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service