At least eight Algerian police officers were killed on Wednesday in an ambush near the city of Tizi Ouzou, some 110 kilometres east of the capital Algiers, security services said.
Two police vehicles came under fire from suspected Islamist militants armed with machine guns at around 15.30 GMT on the outskirts of Beni Douala in the Berber region of Kabylie, they said.
Police reinforcements sent to the scene clashed with the attackers with fighting continuing at around 6 pm.
One of two main armed Islamist groups in Algeria, the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), is believed to operate in the Kabylie region.
The ambush came a day after 12 people were reported killed and two injured in a shooting at a fake checkpoint 160 kilometres (100 miles) west of Algiers, a sector where militants from the radical Armed Islamic Group (GIA) are known to be active.
Last week 14 members of the same family were killed in an attack in the Chlef region, 200 kilometres (125 miles) west of the capital.
Since the beginning of May more than 100 people have been killed in attacks blamed on Islamic extremists, taking the toll this year to nearly 520 dead.
AFP