Algeria busts weapon bunker near border with Mali

Algeria's Defense Ministry said on Saturday that its army troops found on Friday a large quantity of war weapons in a bunker near the border with Mali.

The operation was part of counter-terrorism and border security, the defense ministry said in a statement.

Weapons retrieved included a SPG-9 gun, two 14.5mm machine guns, a 12.7mm machine gun, a PKT machine gun, three RPK machine guns, two Kalashnikov machine guns, a SKS semi-automatic rifle, a repeating rifle, a MAS-36 rifle, seven D-30 shells, 15 mortar shells, 18 SPG-9 rockets, three RPG-7 rockets, two Grad BM missiles, 10 F1 grenades and a large quantity of ammunition, according to the statement.

Such operations show Algeria's commitment to countering terrorism, the ministry noted.

Located in a region plagued by unprecedented security and political instability, Algeria faces continuing terrorist threats, experts say.

In Algeria, a few militants affiliated to al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb and the Islamic State affiliate group of Caliphate Soldiers are still taking refuge in the dense woods in the north and remote desert areas near the borders with troubled Libya and Mali. 

source: Xinhua