Mounting frustration at their ailing president's bid for a fifth term has brought protestors to the streets in Algeria, where Abdelaziz Bouteflika is the regime's candidate for April elections.   

Security forces arrested 41 people during angry protests that rocked Algeria's capital against ailing President Abdelaziz Bouteflika seeking a fifth term, authorities said Saturday.

Algeria's ailing President Abdelaziz Bouteflika is to seek a fifth term in April elections, state media announced Sunday, despite health issues that have kept him largely out of the public eye for years.

Algeria's main Islamist party, the Movement for the Society of Peace, said Saturday it has decided to take part in April's presidential election.

Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika issued a decree on Friday calling a much anticipated presidential election for April 18 but without saying whether he will seek a new term.

The ailing 81-year-old, who uses a wheelchair and has rarely been seen in public since a stroke in 2013, is due to complete a fourth term in office on April 28.

Algeria suffered its deadliest ever air catastrophe Wednesday when a military plane crashed near the capital, killing 257 people on board, mostly army personnel and their family members, officials said.  

Campaigning for Algeria's May 4 elections got off to a muted start Sunday, with the public showing little interest in the poll despite government efforts to persuade disillusioned voters to participate.

Algerian president Abdelaziz Bouteflika is "doing well" despite a health scare last week which forced him to postpone a meeting with the German Chancellor, the general secretary of his party said.

Algeria's President Abdelaziz Bouteflika replaced the energy and finance ministers on Saturday in a surprise reshuffle a year after they were appointed.

Algerian forces killed eight alleged Islamist militants east of Algiers late Tuesday, the north African state's defense ministry said.

An army unit shot dead "eight terrorists" and seized guns and ammunition following an ambush east of Setif, 330km (205 miles) from the capital, according to a statement published on the ministry's website.