ALGIERS, March 26 (Xinhua) -- Chief of the terrorist group Daesh in Algeria was killed on Saturday overnight by Algerian counterterrorism forces in the eastern province of Constantine, local media reported on Sunday.
TSA news website quoted a security source as saying that counterterrorism unit shot dead two terrorists in the eastern woods of Constantine overnight Saturday.
The source specified that one of the two killed terrorists is nicknamed Abu Hammam, head of al Ghoraba squadron, which is the Algerian branch of Daesh.
Detectives retrieved the gun of a policeman assassinated last October in a restaurant in Constantine. The gun was in the possession of Abu Hamman, said the source.
Wanted since 2008, Abu Hamman was reportedly involved in the assassination of police officer last October.
On Feb. 26, a police officer foiled a suicide bomb attack that targeted a police station in downtown Constantine. The attack was later claimed by Daesh.
Located in a region plagued by unprecedented security and political instability, Algeria faces ongoing terrorist threats, experts say.
A few militants affiliated to al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and recently established Daesh affiliate groups are still taking refuge in the dense woods in the north, and remote desert areas near Libya and Mali.
