Two armed terrorists have surrendered in the Tamanrasset region south of Algeria, near the border with Niger, the Algerian Defense Ministry reported.
In a statement published on its website, the ministry said an extremist named Toudji Sid Amar, known as Youcef, surrendered to the army on Sunday. Youcef was carrying a machine gun and had ammunition in his possession.
In the same area, another terrorist called Berbouchi Ouennani, aka Abou Hamza, surrendered too, according to the ministry. He was carrying a Kalashnikov rifle and ammunition.
Both extremists joined militant groups in 2012.
The ministry did not say whether the terrorists were linked, neither did it name the organization(s) to which they belong.
Tamanrasset is a vast area with more than 500,000 square kilometers, and with the absence of security authorities’ surveillance, the area witnesses a major activity of arms and drug trafficking, and smuggling of migrants from sub-Saharan Africa.
In Adrar, also south of Algeria, security forces arrested a terrorist called Mazili Hama as well as a supporter of armed groups.
In a related context, the ministry announced that on Saturday the army arrested nine gold diggers, and seized a truck, three motorcycles, 17 generators, 19 pressure hammers and 550 liters of fuel in Tamanrasset, Bordj Badji Mokhtar and in Salah.
In Constantine, 500 km east of the capital, the national gendarmerie arrested a drug dealer with 2,220 hallucinogenic tablets, and seized 18.64 quintals of tobacco in the valley.
The army also announced that it arrested 20 illegal migrants from different nationalities in Bordj Badji Mokhtar, south of the country, and Ain Temouchent in the west.
