File picture shows Tunisian forces in the Mount Chaambi area during an air and land operation against Islamist militants on August 2, 2013/AFP
TUNIS, July 17- Fourteen Tunisian soldiers were killed in an attack on two posts near the border with Algeria, where the army has been waging a crackdown on jihadists, the government said Thursday.
“The toll has risen to 14 dead among the soldiers, and is expected to rise,” the defence ministry said, updating an earlier toll of four killed during the attack in the Mount Chaambi area.
The attacks came nearly one year after Tunisian soldiers were ambushed in the same region of Mount Chaambi where the army has been hunting down a group with links to Al-Qaeda.
Eight soldiers were killed in the attack on July 29 last year which happened several days after the assassination of opposition politician Mohamed Brahmi in Tunis, causing a political crisis in the north African country.
Last month Al Qaeda in the Islamic Mahgreb (AQIM) for the first time claimed responsibility for recent attacks in Tunisia, including an assault in May on the home of the interior minister that left four security guards dead.
About The Author
