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Al-Qaeda’s North African branch claimed an ambush of an Algerian army patrol that killed at least nine soldiers, in one of the deadliest such attacks in years.

The assault took place in Djebel Louh in Ain Defla province, 140 kilometres (85 miles) southwest of Algiers, on Friday night at the start of the Eid al-Fitr holiday marking the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) claimed the attack in an unverified statement posted online late last night. “The knights of Islam have, on the first night of Eid, killed 14 soldiers in an ambush on an army platoon in the area of Djebel Louh,” it said, adding that the attackers managed to escape unharmed after seizing the dead troops’ weapons.