Algeria attack leaves 13 soldiers dead

Algiers has seen repeated recent protests

Suspected Islamic militants have killed at least 13 Algerian soldiers and wounded several others in an ambush, Algerian newspapers have reported.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, carried out on Monday in the mountainous terrain near the city of Chlef, about 200km (125 miles) west of the capital of Algiers, but the area has seen frequent attacks by Islamic insurgents in the last nine years.

The Kabylia community has been demanding more rights

The assailants set off explosives and opened fire at a convoy of soldiers on its way to help victims of an earlier attack, believed to be a decoy intended to get the soldiers out of their barracks, the newspapers said.

The attack came as seven people were reported dead and 120 injured in new clashes between police and Berbers in the northeast of the country.

BBC north Africa correspondent David Bamford says that Algerian journalists who were allowed to go to the scene of the ambush reported seeing four burned-out military landrovers and an army truck.

More than 1,000 people have been killed in the Islamist conflict since the start of this year, with about 100,000 estimatedt o have died in the past nine year.

New Berber riots

The deaths in the northeast came in several separate incidents.

We must preserve our dear homeland and the people's property

Prime Minister Ali Benflis

Three protesters were killed and 15 were injured near the city of Bejaia, in the mainly Berber-populated region of Kabylia, about 250km (145 miles) east of Algiers.

Two paramilitary gendarmes were also killed in separate clashes in the same region.

Two other demonstrators were shot dead in Chrea, in the Tebessa region, about 600km (375 miles) east of Algiers.

A hotel owner who opened fire at a crowd that appeared to be threatening his hotel killed the two, Le Matin newspaper reported.

In response, the hotel was set ablaze by protesters and its owner was beaten unconscious.

Ban on protests

Following weeks of violent protests by members of the Berber community, the Algerian Government on Monday declared a total ban on demonstrations in the capital Algiers.

The recent clashes began two months ago in Kabylia and came to a head in a huge pro-democracy march in Algiers last Thursday.

President Bouteflika: Under pressure

Prime Minister Ali Benflis made an appeal on state television for calm.

"We have only one country: Algeria. We must, in all the regions, preserve our dear homeland and the people's property," he said.

The BBC correspondent in the region says the ban would enable the government to call in the army to defend state institutions in the event of a popular uprising.

Our correspondent says many believe that the military is waiting in the wings and will be prepared to act on its own initiative if the situation gets much worse.