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Algerian security forces killed three militants east of the capital on the second day of a major offensive, the defence ministry said Wednesday, bringing to 25 the total number of insurgents shot dead, Reuters reports.

The ministry said late Tuesday the army had killed 22 fighters in Bouira province in a region that was an Islamist militant stronghold during a 1990s civil war that left 200,000 people dead.

Fighters allied with both Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and ISIS operate in Algeria, mostly in mountainous northern areas, but militant attacks have been rare since the war with Islamist insurgents mostly came to an end in 2000.

The military has given no details or mentioned the affiliation of the fighters involved.

But security sources Tuesday said the strike was against members of the Caliphate Soldiers, an Al-Qaeda splinter faction that had declared allegiance with ISIS militants who control territory in Iraq and Syria.