3 Algerian soldiers, 2 extremists killed in clash

Officials say three soldiers have been killed and three others wounded in a clash with Islamist militants in western Algeria.

They say two militants, including the chieftain of the group, were also killed.

The prefecture in Sidi Bel Abbes, some 600 kilometers west of the capital Algiers, said Tuesday that the extremists fired on the soldiers during a patrol in the village of Talagh a day earlier.

Local authorities said the group was responsible for the May 22 murder of two imams, aged 64 and 67, at the mosque in Oued Sebaa, another town in the region.

Algeria continues to hunt down extremists years after the so-called "black decade" of the 1990s and early 2000s when violence left an estimated 200,000 people dead.