Algerian army kills 7 Muslim rebels

ALGIERS, Algeria (Reuters) -- Seven Muslim rebels were killed on Tuesday when Algerian soldiers backed by helicopter gunships stormed a mountainous area where the rebels were hiding, a local newspaper reported on Wednesday.

The Arabic-language El Khabar said that the attack was near the small town of Zemmoura in the province of Relizane, 360 kilometers (225 miles) west of Algiers.

It said the army used helicopter gunships to pound the forested area. "The soldiers then clashed with the group killing seven terrorists," it said using the official term to describe Muslim rebels still bent on violence and who rejected President Abdelaziz Bouteflika's general amnesty.

The six-month amnesty, which expired on January 13, was the key plank of President Bouteflika's peace plan aimed at ending eight years of civilian unrest in which he says more than 100,000 people have been killed.

Algeria has been convulsed by violence since early 1992 when the authorities cancelled a general election in which the Muslim fundamentalist group the Islamist Salvation Front (FIS) had taken a commanding lead.

The FIS was banned by the army-backed government a few months later and its leaders sentenced to up to 12 years in jail.

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