The United Nations said Wednesday that representatives of Libyan leaders had been invited for talks next week in Algeria as part of efforts to resolve their country's conflict.

"The United Nations Support Mission in Libya announces that a meeting of representatives of Libyan political leaders and activists will convene early next week in Algeria," UNSMIL said.

Forty police officers were wounded Sunday in clashes with demonstrators opposed to shale gas exploration in the Algerian Sahara, the Interior Ministry announced.

"The town of In-Salah saw incidents involving public order, initiated by a group of young people protesting against shale gas operations in the region," the ministry said in a statement.  

The Malian government signed a peace agreement with some northern armed groups on Sunday in Algiers but the main Tuareg rebel alliance asked for more time to consult its grassroots.

The deal, hammered out in eight months of tough negotiations in neighboring Algeria, provides for the transfer of a raft of powers from Bamako to the north, an area the size of Texas that the rebels refer to as "Azawad".

Hundreds of female religious guides have been at the forefront of Algeria's battle against Islamic radicalization since the civil war that devastated the North African country in the 1990s.

Their aim is to steer women away from false preachers promoting radical forms of Islam.

Algerian mediators hosting peace talks between the Mali government and militants have produced a draft agreement transferring a raft of powers from Bamako to the country's restive north.

Ethnic divisions run deep in the west African nation's northern desert, the cradle of a Tuareg separatist movement which has spawned several rebellions since the 1960s.

A key Algerian opposition figure charged Wednesday that the country has slumped into a power vacuum because of aging President Abdelaziz Bouteflika's ailing health.

"Parliament has come to a halt... the government cannot submit laws without holding cabinet meetings," said Ali Benflis, a beaten challenger of the veteran president in an election last year.

Five people were killed and eight injured Tuesday when a rockslide caused a bus to slam into another vehicle at the entrance to a busy road tunnel, a civil defense officer said.

The accident occurred in Aokas, 300 kilometers (186 miles) east of Algiers, said Colonel Farouk Achour, adding the toll was preliminary as rescue work was still underway.

Riot police prevented a protest in the Algerian capital Tuesday against state energy giant Sonatrach's controversial exploitation of shale gas in the southern desert.

Sonatrach announced plans last month to invest at least $70 billion (62 billion euros) over the next 20 years to exploit the gas despite huge public opposition in the In Salah area of the central Sahara, where successful test drilling was announced in December.

Algerian soldiers have shot dead a heavily armed Islamist in the Tebessa region on the northeastern border with Tunisia, the defense ministry said Sunday.

"As part of the fight against terrorism, an army detachment in Tebessa shot down... a terrorist" near the area of Ain Mdila on Saturday, the ministry said in a statement carried by the national news agency APS.

Algeria secured their spot in the quarter-finals of the Africa Cup of Nations on Tuesday thanks to a 2-0 win against Senegal in their last Group C game in Malabo.

On a dramatic evening, Riyad Mahrez set Algeria on their way with the opening goal inside 11 minutes, and for a long time it looked as if both sides would be heading through to the last eight.