Improvised explosive device killed four Tunisian soldiers in mountain region near the Algerian border

An improvised explosive device killed four Tunisian soldiers patrolling in a mountain region near the Algerian border, Defense Ministry spokesman Mohammed Zekri said on Wednesday.

The mountainous Moghila area, near the impoverished city of Kasserine, is home to an extremist group that the Tunisian army has been fighting for years.

Tunisia faces a small but persistent militant threat, foreign diplomats focused on security say.

As well as extremist cells holed up in remote mountain regions, who have not made successful forays beyond their strongholds in recent years, there is also a threat from militants radicalized online.

Last year militants tried to attack the US embassy in Tunis, killing a policeman at a security point with a suicide vest, and months later stabbed two security officers in a knife attack in the city of Sousse.

In October, a young Tunisian migrant arrived in France and immediately killed three people in a church.

Source: Aawsat