Algerian Army Battles Rebels, 57 Die - Paper

ALGIERS, Algeria (Reuters) - Thirty-two Algerian Muslim rebels and 25 government soldiers were killed in a fierce six-day-long battle in western Algeria, the newspaper El Watan reported Sunday.

``Thirty-two terrorists were shot dead and 25 government soldiers have been killed since Tuesday when troops launched the operation,'' said El Watan.

The newspaper said the operation was continuing and the army had rushed reinforcements to the site of the battle between hard-line Armed Islamic Group (GIA) guerrillas and government troops.

The battle in the rugged Bourakba area in Relizane province, some 180 miles west of Algiers, was the most ferocious reported encounter between rebels and troops since an amnesty offer expired 10 days ago.

It was not clear whether the battle was the start of a full-out assault on radical rebels who dismissed the offer of an amnesty.

President Abdelaziz Bouteflika vowed an assault on rebels who refused to surrender under the six-month amnesty which expired on January 13. The amnesty was the key plank of Boutelfika's peace drive to try to end eight years of violence in which he says 100,000 people have been killed.