Reports from Algeria say eight soldiers were killed in an ambush by suspected Islamic militants in the Miliana region, about 120km from Algiers.

The newspaper reports said the soldiers, in two vehicles, were attacked on their way to an operation against militants in the Zaccar mountains.

Earlier reports said about forty militants were killed after they were engaged by troops backed by helicopter gunships.

Tens of thousands of people have been killed in violence since 1992, following the cancellation of a general election in which radical Islamists had taken a commanding lead.