Al-Qaeda Kills 24 Algerian Policemen

At least 24 policemen have been killed by Islamist militants during an ambush near Mansoura, east of the capital, Algiers yesterday.

The police officers who were reportedly escorting Chinese construction workers near a highway building site, had to stop after militants set off two roadside bombs to block a convoy, reports said.

Reports further said the gunmen fired the police with bullets before stealing their weapons and uniforms.

However, the local official said the Chinese construction workers, who were building a segment of Algeria's east-west highway, had not yet joined the convoy when the attack by the suspected militants took place.

Earlier this month al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, also known as al-Qaeda in North Africa, killed a British man, Edwin Dyer, who they had abducted in January from Niger.

Read the full report here.