ALGIERS, Dec 25: Algeria's army has killed six militants in northwest Algeria during a sweep on a suspected rebel hideout, state radio quoted security services as saying on Saturday.

The militants were killed on Friday during a two-hour gunbattle with anti-terrorist units near Sidi M'hamed Ben Aouda in Relizane province, some 300km west of Algiers.

The rebels had hid in an abandoned house and were suspected of belonging to a small "terrorist group" responsible for numerous assassinations in the region, including policemen and state-armed militias, radio said.

Separately, state media reported that another "terrorist group" slit the throat of a night watchman in Collo, eastern Algeria.

While rebel-linked violence has sharply fallen in recent years, dozens of people have been killed in recent weeks.-AFP