Tunisia says suspected militant kills self, child during military operation

TUNIS AT HOME 1
A rooftop cafe, in the old city of Tunis, Tunisia, on October 5, 2019. Authorities on Friday say a suspected militant killed herself and her child during a raid in central Tunisia. (Photo: NYTimes)
TUNIS — A suspected foreign terrorist blew herself and her little girl up with an explosives belt as security forces closed in on mountains of central Tunisia, the interior ministry said Friday.اضافة اعلان

It said the child she was carrying died on the spot and another small girl was wounded Thursday as the woman detonated the belt in the remote Mount Selloum area of Kasserine near the Algerian border, a known militant hideout.

It said the woman's husband was also killed in the operation.

National guard and army units the same day "eliminated" Hamdi Dhouib, a senior member of the outlawed Jund al-Khalifa, which is linked to Daesh, in Mount Mghila, also in Kasserine, the ministry said in a statement.

Tunisia faced several terrorist 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 Daesh.