Two Algerian paramilitary police were killed on Wednesday in a bomb attack in a traditional stronghold of al Qaeda's north African wing, a security official said.

Islamist insurgents in Algeria appear to have resumed their activities after a lull. A total of 19 soldiers were killed in the same region over a 48-hour period earlier this month, in the deadliest attacks in months.

The security official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the two gendarmes were killed by a roadside bomb at about 3 p.m. (1400 GMT) near Bordj Menaiel, approximately 80 km (50 miles) east of the Algerian capital.

The attack happened in the mountainous Kabylie region, where al Qaeda's north African branch, known as al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, has traditionally been based.

Algerian security forces have been fighting Islamist militants for nearly two decades in a conflict which, at its peak in the 1990s, killed an estimated 200,000 people.
A combination of tough security measures and an amnesty for insurgents who lay down their arms has led in the past few years to a significant reduction in the level of violence.