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Islamist leader killed in Algeria

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CAIRO, October 10 (RIA Novosti) - A high-ranking Islamist terrorist, Hareg Zoheir, also known as Sofiane Abu Fasila, has been killed in a clash with Algerian troops, local media said on Wednesday.

Zoheir, who was believed to have been 32, was the second-in-command of "al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb." He was believed to have masterminded several suicide bomb attacks in Algeria, including one while President Abdelaziz Bouteflika was visiting the eastern town of Batna early in September.

The Maghreb consists of the North-African countries of Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco.

Zoheir was ambushed by Algerian special forces on a highway near the town of Tzizi Ouzou in the north-east of the country. Two other suspected militants were also killed during the operation.

Algeria was engulfed in violence between 1992-98 following the cancellation of elections, which the Islamic Salvation Front had been expected to win, by the military. Over 100,000 people died during the subsequent insurgency.

In 2005, tensions eased slightly after the government issued the Peace and National Reconciliation Charter, releasing more than 2,000 former Islamist guerrillas under an amnesty designed to put an end to the conflict.

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