Suspected Algerian Islamic rebels killed eight soldiers in an ambush 90 km (60 miles) south of the capital Algiers late on Tuesday.

The unidentified militants attacked a military convoy charged with re-supplying the armed forces? check points in the Medea province, a mountainous region rebels are known to operate in. The Interior Ministry declined to comment.

The casualties were taken to a hospital morgue in Berrouaghia, 90 km south of Algiers. The armed forces have in recent months stepped up their campaign to eliminate what remains of two principal guerrilla groups, the Armed Islamic Group ? known for slitting the throats of its victims ? and the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat.

The oil-rich Muslim country plunged into a spiral of bloodshed after authorities cancelled parliamentary elections in 1992 that a Muslim fundamentalist party was poised to win.

More than 150 000 people are estimated to have died, according to human rights organisations, as militants calling for a holy war took up arms to overthrow the government and create a purist Islamic state.