Four Tunisian soldiers killed during patrol near Algeria border
Tunisia's mountainous area is a hotbed of Islamist insurgent activity.
Four Tunisian soldiers were killed by an improvised explosive device in the country’s western mountains on Wednesday, the Defense Ministry said.
The soldiers were conducting patrols in the Moghila area between Kasserine and Sidi Bouzid, which is frequented by al-Qaeda-linked extremists. A spokesperson for Tunisia’s Defense Ministry, Mohamed Zekri, told The Associated Press that Jund al-Khalifa, linked to al-Qaeda’s local franchise, carried out the attack.
Tunisia’s government has largely limited the country’s Islamist insurgency to the western mountains with US military support in recent years.
Jihadist activity picked up in the country’s rural mountainous region in 2013 following the Arab Spring revolution that toppled longtime dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. The North African country is considered the lone democratic success story.
