SIDI BOUZID, Tunisia, Nov. 15 (UPI) — At least five militants and one soldier were killed Sunday in a firefight that erupted during an anti-extremist operation in central Tunisia.
Xinhua news agency reported the raid occurred in the Mount Mghila area near the city of Sidi Bouzid.
Tunisian security forces launched an operation in the region after militants reportedly beheaded a 16-year-old shepherd, forcing the boy’s friend to watch before ordering him to carry the severed head, wrapped in plastic, to the victim’s family.
Aside from the reported casualties, the results of the raid have not been confirmed.
The firefight comes three days after Tunisian media reported two men arrested earlier this month in connection with an attempt to kill the deputy of a secularist political party in Tunisia on Oct. 8 were members of an Islamic State affiliate in Libya.
The men, along with five others, failed to kill Ridha Charfeddine, deputy of the Nida Tounes party, during a shooting attack in Sousse, on Tunisia’s eastern Mediterranean coast.
The suspects were reportedly in possession of large quantities of weapons and ammunition as well as laptops containing details of intended future targets.
Authorities found no connection linking the men to a June militant attack against tourists at a seaside resort in Sousse. The assault on the Imperial Marhaba Hotel ended after at least 37 people were killed.
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