ALGIERS - A senior leader of Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) was among the three militants killed Friday by Algerian forces in the southern province of Bejaia, local TSA news website reported Sunday.

Citing a security source, TSA said that forensics identified one of the three militants as Makhfi Rabah, 45, who was also known as Sheikh Abdenacer.

Hailing from the province of Boumerdes, some 50 km east of Algiers, Sheikh Abdenacer was known to have been close to head of AQMI Abdelmalek Droukdel and was the commander of the group responsible for the Kabylie region (covering the provinces of Tizi Ouzou, Boumerdes, Bouira and Bejaia), the source specified.

In March 2012, an Algerian court sentenced Makhfi Rabah to death in absentia together with Droukdel and two other militants on the run.

Forensics are still working to identify the two other dead militants, the source said, adding that they might also be key members of AQMI.