Newspapers report that suspected militants killed seven Algerian security guards in an ambush on their van, AP reported. Liberte newspaper says the van was fired on Saturday in the Bejaia region, about 250 kilometers (150 miles) east of the capital, Algiers. It adds that two soldiers called to the scene were slightly wounded by a handmade remote-controlled bomb. El Watan says the guards were killed by an explosive device, not gunfire, and that a second bomb an hour later killed one soldier and wounded two. There was no immediate claim of responsibility, the papers said. Algerian authorities could not immediately be reached for comment. A militant group known as al-Qaida in the Maghreb is active in Algeria. -- SPA
