Tunisia: Tunisian security forces kill 5 militants near Libyan border
Tunisian security forces killed five militants near the Libyan border on Wednesday in a gunbattle in which one civilian also died and an army commander was wounded, the government said.
Troops had been on alert after receiving reports that militants had slipped across the border over the past three days in response to a US air strike on an Islamic State group training camp in Libya on February 18 that targeted a senior Tunisian commander, the interior ministry said.
The militants were killed after being surrounded by troops in a house in El Aouija, 10 kilometres (six miles) outside the town of Ben Guerdane, the defence ministry said.
The army commander was wounded in the head during the operation but was in a stable condition, ministry spokesman Belhassen Oueslati told AFP.