Three suspected 'Islamists' arrested in Algeria after blast

Algeria announced the arrest of three suspected Islamists who confessed to planting a home-made bomb that reportedly killed two soldiers patrolling near the border with Tunisia.

"Members of the National Guard arrested three backers of terrorist groups on 3 June at Tebessa," about 550 kilometres (340 miles) southeast of Algiers, the defence ministry said.

"They admitted to having planted the home-made bomb which exploded as a military patrol passed by" near Bir el-Ater, about 100 kilometres south of Tebessa and some 15 kilometres from the border, the statement added.

It is the first official confirmation of the attack, which occurred at dawn on Saturday, but the ministry failed to clarify whethere there were any casualties.

Security sources told AFP on Saturday that the blast killed two soldiers and wounded four.

The troops were patrolling the area when the device exploded, the source said.

Another security source said the soldiers were combing the semi-desert area between Bir al-Ater and Negrine.

Algerians had hoped that a 2005 peace and reconciliation charter would turn the page on a 1991-2002 civil war that cost 200,000 lives.

But Islamist groups remain active in the south and east, largely targeting security forces.

Meanwhile, neigbouring Tunisia has experienced an increase in militant attacks that have cost the lives of dozens of members of security forces and 59 foreign tourists.

The country has been under a state of emergency since November 2015, when an Islamic State suicide bombing in Tunis killed 12 presidential guards.