Algeria’s troops have killed seven armed men have been killed in Khenchela province, 700 km east of the capital Algiers, the Defence Ministry said.
The unidentified men described as “dangerous terrorists”, were killed in an ambush and the army seized assault rifles, the ministry said in a statement.
Algeria emerged from a conflict with armed Islamists in the 1990s that left an estimated 200,000 dead, says a Reuters report.
But al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and small bands of fighters allied to Islamic State have been active in remote parts of the oil producer.