Authorities regularly report "terrorist" killings, often referring to armed Islamist groups that have remained active in the North African country years after the end of its civil war in 2002.

The defence ministry's statement said that "as part of the fight against terrorism, an army detachment... eliminated six terrorists and recovered six Kalashnikov machine guns with significant ammunition".

It added that Algeria's army chief Said Chengriha visited the raided site in Tebessa province, near the Tunisian border.

The statement did not identify the slain people, and there were no reports of casualties among the troops.

In the first half of 2025, counterterrorism operations across Algeria killed at least 35 people, the defence ministry has said.

Despite a 2005 amnesty law following the end of the civil war, Islamist groups continue to carry out sporadic operations, often in mountainous and sparsely populated areas.

The civil war broke out in 1992 after the army cancelled Algeria's first democratic elections when the winning Islamic Salvation Front vowed to establish an Islamic state.

Also called the Black Decade, the war left some 200,000 people dead, according to official figures.