Algiers  - Algerian security forces have prevented a suicide attack on the presidential palace, local press reports said on Thursday.

Fourteen suspected terrorists have been arrested, according to the Algerian el-Khabar daily.

Among the detained are believed to be the individual responsible for planning the attack, as well as the suspected would-be suicide bomber, a 60-year-old male who owned a luxury villa some 200 metres from the presidential palace.

In separate developments, on Wednesday evening police in the coastal city of Annaba, near the border with Tunisia, sealed off the town centre fearing an explosion. Eyewitnesses reported seeing two vehicles loaded with explosives.

According to media reports, police have stepped up their activities against the organization known as al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQMI) after hundreds of the groups weapons stores were destroyed in recent days during forest fires.

In the past weeks in Algeria terrorist attacks have killed more than 50 people. (dpa)