Algeria ? The No. 2 al-Qaida official in Algeria was killed Thursday in a clash with an army patrol, the country’s official APS news agency said, citing security officials.

Samir Moussaab, whose real name was Samir Saioud, was killed near the village of Si Moustapha about 25 miles east of the capital, Algiers, the radio reported.

It said Moussaab’s body was identified by former members of the Salafist Group for Call and Combat, an insurgent group that changed its name to al-Qaida in Islamic North Africa when it announced its alliance with al-Qaida in January.

The group was built on the foundations of an Algerian insurgency to topple Algeria’s secular government that erupted in 1992 after the army canceled elections that a Muslim fundamentalist party was set to win.

Thursday’s clash follows double-suicide bombings April 11 that killed 33 people and wounded 57 in Algiers. Al-Qaida in Islamic North Africa claimed responsibility for the attacks, coordinated suicide bombings targeting the prime minister’s office and a police station.