ALGIERS - An Algrian court on Sunday has handed death penalty to two militants charged of killing more than 500 people and raping more than 60 women, the local APS news agency reported.

Magistrate of the Criminal Court of Algiers has sentenced Kouri Djillali and Antar Ali to death penalty as they admitted during cross examinations that they joined a terrorist group in 1997 in the province of Chlef (200 km eastern Algiers), and murdered hundreds of soldiers and civilians in the provinces of Boumerdes, Medea, Tiaret, Chlef, Relizane and Blida.

Both of them admitted having participated in several massacres against civilians and security forces across the northern region. Kourdi Djilali admitted having kidnapped and raped 60 women, and slaughtered 9 others in the province of Chlef in 1999.

Antar Ali admitted killing of 19 people in Chlef in 1998, participating in the murdering of 20 people of the same family in 2001 and killing 20 civilians in Blida province in 2003.

Algeria was hit by a decade of violence in the 1990's. The security situation has been witnessing a significant improvement in recent years since the government adopted the national reconciliation policy and stepped up military strikes.

However, terrorist attacks against the army and the police still occur frequently in the northeast and southern regions of the country.