News / North Africa

Tunisian soldiers kill two militants near border with Algeria

Thursday, 28 July 2016 2:27 PM [ Last Update: Thursday, 28 July 2016 2:43 PM ]

Tunisian soldiers patrol as they search for attackers still at large in the outskirts of Ben Guerdane, southern Tunisia, March 8, 2016. ©AP

Tunisian troops have killed at least two Takfiri militants in the troubled northwest of the country, after a series of terrorist attacks by Daesh militants left dozens dead in the North African country.

The Tunisian Ministry of Defense said that the militants were killed on Wednesday during a search operation near the town of Jendouba, which is close to Algeria border.

"Military units, reinforced by elements of the National Guard... killed two terrorists during search operations" near the town of Jendouba, the ministry said in a statement on Thursday.

It added that security personnel seized two rifles along with ammunition, backpacks, clothes, mobile phones and cash.

The ministry also noted that a soldier was wounded during the fierce fighting.

Tunisian security sources say the National Guard would continue to search for militants across the violence-hit region.

Tunisia has witnessed an upsurge in militant attacks over the past few months.

In June 2015, an assailant armed with a rifle killed 38 people, mostly foreign tourists, on a beach in the Tunisian resort town of Sousse.

The attack came more than a month after two militants stormed the Bardo Museum in the capital, Tunis, and shot dead 21 people, mainly foreign tourists.

On November 24, 2015, a bomb attack by Daesh Takfiri terrorists on a bus carrying presidential guards killed 12 people in the capital.

Tunisian forensic police inspect the wreckage of a bus in the capital, Tunis, on November 25, 2015 in the aftermath of a bomb attack on the vehicle the previous day. ©AFP

Following the attack, Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi said his country was at “war against terrorism.”

Tunisian Prime Minister Habib Essid has recently urged vigilance against the "persistent terrorist threat" across the country.

Tunisia has been plagued by violence since the 2011 uprising that ousted the country’s dictator, Zine el Abidine Ben Ali, who was in power for over two decades.

The relative calm in Tunisia has been punctured by growing instability in neighboring Libya, which has been in chaos since former dictator, Muammar Gaddafi, was toppled and later killed in 2011.

Tunisian law enforcement agencies fear further terror attacks in the country as an estimated 3,000 Tunisian terrorists are believed to be within the ranks of Daesh in Iraq, Syria and elsewhere, and they could pose troubles when they return home.

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