Algiers - Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika was elected to an unprecedented third term with 90.24 per cent of the vote, Interior Minister Nouredine Yazid Zerhouni announced Friday. The re-election of the 72-year-old Bouteflika was considered a foregone conclusion after the two main opposition parties decided to boycott the vote, alleging that it had been "rigged in advance."

The five candidates who stood against Bouteflika were marginal political figures little known by the general public.

Algiers  - Three guards working on a foreign construction project in Algeria have been killed by suspected Islamic terrorists, local media reported on Thursday.

The three brothers were traveling in their car near the eastern port city of Jijel when they were confronted by a group of armed men, who shot the victims before slitting their throats.

The incident occurred late Wednesday, on the eve of elections that are expected to return President Abdelaziz Bouteflika to office for an unprecedented third five-year term.

Paris - The press freedom watchdog Reporters Without Borders Wednesday strongly criticized the Algerian government's decision to ban three French publications in the run-up to Thursday's election.

"This censorship is disgraceful," the group said in a statement about the repression of the current issues of the weeklies L'Express, Marianne and Le Journal du Dimanche.

The ban "constitutes a denial of press freedom and therefore a denial of democracy," the organization said.

Algiers - In the latest of a series of terrorist attacks, a high-ranking Algerian army officer was killed in a bomb attack in northern Algeria and f further soldier badly wounded, media reports said Saturday.

The attack took place on Friday ahead of an election rally appearance by President Abdelaziz Bouteflika in the region. The rally went ahead despite the attack.

The bombing came at the end of a week of bloodshed in which dozens of people were killed in attacks and clashes.

Algiers - Two soldiers and seven presumed Islamic terrorists have died in Algeria as the wave of violence continued in the run-up to April 9 general elections, local media reported on Wednesday.

The two soldiers were killed when a homemade bomb exploded under the lorry on which they were riding late Monday in the southern region city of M'ziraa, the daily Liberte reported.

Algiers - Violence in the run-up to the April 9 general elections continued in Algeria as six people were killed in the east of the country in two separate bomb attacks, local media reported on Tuesday.

Four soldiers were killed and one injured when two bombs exploded on Monday near the city of Tadmait, some 110 kilometres east of the capital Algiers.

The attack was attributed to Islamic terrorists and came less than 10 days after a suicide bombing that targeted local police headquarters in Tadmait.