A suspected foreign jihadist blew herself and her little girl up with an explosives belt as security forces closed in in mountains of central Tunisia, the interior ministry said on Friday.
The child she was carrying died on the spot and another small girl was wounded when the woman detonated the belt on Thursday.
Suspected foreign jihadist detonates explosives belt in Tunisia, killing herself and young daughter https://t.co/Tl6SfvHQII
— The New Arab (@The_NewArab) April 2, 2021
She chose to detonate the suicide belt after security forces killed her husband in the raid in the remote Mount Selloum area of Kasserine near the Algeran border, a known jihadist hideout.
Another Islamic extremist was also killed in a security operation in the region on Thursday, the ministry added.
Hamdi Dhouib, a senior member of the outlawed Jund al-Khalifa, a group linked to the Islamic State (IS), was 'eliminated' by a national guard and army operation in Mount Mghila, also in Kasserine.
The Jund al-Khalifa brigade pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group and is believed to be behind several attacks in Tunisia in recent years.
In this masterfully told story of one ISIS jihadist, @Nicole_Di_Ilio unpacks many facets of life in #Tunisia. A really essential work that goes beyond the usual simplistic narratives about Tunisia & the country’s multiple incarnations in the past 10 years. https://t.co/3g6sQ2v2a2
— Hassan Hassan (@hxhassan) March 30, 2021
Tunisia has faced several jihadist attacks after its 2011 revolution, with dozens of security personnel, civilians and foreign tourists killed.
It has kept in place a state of emergency, renewed twice-yearly, since a deadly 2015 attack on a presidential guard bus claimed by IS.
Also in 2015, IS claimed an attack which left 38 tourists, among them 30 Brits, in an eastern Tunisian hotel in Sousse.
In the attack, two gunmen opened fire at a beach resort at the Hotel Imperial Marhaba.
British troops were sent to assist the Tunisia military's efforts to prevent IS fighters entering from war-torn neighbour Libya in 2016.
The British army helped train Tunisian forces in border security methods.
In 2015, the Tunisian government announced it had built a 104 mile-long fence along its border with Libya to help prevent jihadists illegally crossing and to prevent arms sales.
This article has been adapted from its original source.
