Algerian soldiers killed three Islamist gunmen on Tuesday during a sweep of a region east of the capital where Al-Qaeda has a presence, the defence ministry said.

They were killed during the search operation in Baghlia, near Boumerdes, where militants from Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) have positions, a statement said.

Boumerdes is about 50 kilometres (30 miles) east of Algiers.

During the operation, the army seized three Kalashnikov assault rifles as well as ammunition and nine cellphones, the defence ministry added.

Armed Islamist groups operate in Algeria despite the adoption in 2005 of a peace and reconciliation charter to turn the page on a war in the 1990s between the government and Islamists that killed 200,000 people.

In July, at least nine soldiers were killed in an ambush southwest of Algiers that was claimed by AQIM.

According to the defence ministry, more than 60 Islamists have been killed this year.

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