UK Prime Minister David Cameron is to visit Algeria later in the wake of the hostage crisis that left up to six Britons dead, BBC News reported.

The PM will hold talks with his counterpart and the president. Cameron will stress the strategic importance of Algeria in what he has called "the generational struggle" against al-Qaeda in North Africa.

The UK is to send 330 military personnel to Algeria's neighbor Mali and West Africa to support French forces battling Islamist militants.

The deployment will include as many as 40 military advisers in Mali and 200 British soldiers in neighboring African countries, to help train the Malian army.

French-led forces are continuing their offensive against militants who seized northern Mali last year.

Cameron will be the first UK prime minister to visit Algeria since its independence in 1962. He will also be attending an international development conference in the Liberian capital, Monrovia. He is expected to hold talks with Algerian Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal and President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, with discussions likely to focus on the hostage crisis and the military campaign in Mali.