3 terror suspects held in Algeria

Algiers: Algerian news reports say government forces have arrested three suspected terrorists, including an official of Al Qaida’s North African branch.

State news agency APS says army special forces arrested Neseeb Tayeb, the head of the Al Qaida-linked cell’s “judicial commission” and two others on August 15 as they travelled in an all-terrain vehicle near the city of Berriane, 570km south of Algiers.

APS, citing unnamed “well-informed sources”, said on Monday that weapons and “very important” documents were also seized in the arrest.

Al Qaida’s North African branch is known as AQIM, or Al Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb.