UNITED NATIONS - The UN Security Council condemned Thursday "in the strongest terms" a terrorist attack in Algeria, where 14 soldiers were killed by a terrorist group last week.

In a statement, the council slammed the attack in the town of Tizi Ouzou and stressed the need to combat "threats to international peace and security caused by terrorist acts".

"The members of the Security Council underlined the need to bring perpetrators, organizers, financiers and sponsors of these reprehensible acts of terrorism to justice," it said, urging all member states to cooperate actively with the Algerian authorities in this regard.

Algerian media reported on Sunday that as many as 14 soldiers were killed by al-Qaida's north African branch, al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb in Tizi Ouzou, about 120 km east the capital Algiers. Following the attack, the Algerian army launched a large-scale military operation backed up by air strikes to hunt down suspected militants, the report said.

The attack came just one day after incumbent President Abdelaziz Bouteflika was announced to have won a fourth term in the North African nation.