Algerian government forces shot dead 17 members of an armed group that killed eight paramilitary gendarmes in an ambush claimed by al Qaeda, a newspaper reported on Tuesday. The al Qaeda Organisation in the Islamic Maghreb has said it was behind the February 7 attack on the gendarmes in the desert province of El Oued 500 km (300 miles) southeast of Algiers. The February 7 ambush was the deadliest attack in the oil- and gas-exporting OPEC state since a twin December 11 bombing killed at least 41 people, including 17 U.N. staff, in Algiers.The top-selling El Khabar daily said the army killed five of the assailants in a clash shortly after the ambush. Troops backed by air power later surrounded other attackers and killed 12 of them, the Arabic-language daily added. Other militants travelling on 10 all-terrain vehicles joined the rebel group during the clashes, it said, adding troops were continuing to hunt for armed men in the neighbouring province of Biskra.