One Tunisian soldier was killed and two wounded in a landmine blast late on Sunday in a central region bordering Algeria where security forces have been fighting Islamist militants, authorities said.
Tunisian forces are on high alert after gunmen stormed the Bardo museum in Tunis last week, killing 20 foreign tourists in the worst attack in the North African country in more than a decade.
The army has also been trying to hunt down a small group of al-Qaeda-linked fighters who use the Chaambi mountains near Algeria as a base for attacks.
“One soldier has been killed and two others lightly wounded by a landmine set by terrorists near the Algerian border in Kef province,” army spokesperson Bel Hassen Ouslati said.
Tunisia has emerged as a model of democratic transition four years after the revolt that ousted Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali.
But its armed forces have clashed with militants in remote areas near Algeria’s border and authorities estimate thousands of Tunisians have travelled to fight alongside Islamists in neighbouring Libya and in Syria.
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