Tunisian soldier killed, 7 wounded in landmine by Algeria border

              
One Tunisian soldier was killed and seven others wounded on Sunday by a landmine near the Algerian border, where security forces have been hunting Islamist militants, an army source said.             

"The landmine was planted by Islamist extremists. It exploded when their tank rolled over it in a security sweep in Mount Chaambi," he said, referring to a remote border area where militants killed eight troops last Monday in one of the deadliest attack against Tunisian security forces in decades.  
            
Earlier in the day, Tunisian police shot dead an Islamist militant in Tunis and arrested several suspected militants, an official and witnesses said, as the government grapples with growing security and political crises.                      

There has been a surge in Islamist militant attacks over the past two weeks in the North African country, and on Friday security forces launched heavy air and artillery strikes on militant hideouts near the Algerian border.                               

The nation is also mired in political turmoil as the secular opposition tries to oust the moderate Islamist-led government.                           

Tens of thousands of Tunisians came out in a show of force for the ruling Ennahda party on Saturday. The opposition has pledged to overtake those numbers in a rally later on Sunday.                             

Interior ministry official Lotfi Hidouri said the shooting on Sunday took place when police raided a house where militants were hiding weapons in the Kabaria district of Tunis. "The police killed a terrorist and arrested five others," he said.                           


REUTERS