Mine blast kills Tunisia soldier, injures 2

At least a Tunisian soldier has been killed and two others have sustained injuries in a mine blast in a mountainous western region near the Algerian border, the Tunisian Defence Ministry says.

Belhassen Oueslati, the spokesman for the ministry, made the remarks on Sunday without revealing the exact location of the incident.

He further noted that the blast took place after the vehicle in which the soldiers were traveling hit a landmine “planted by terrorist elements”.

The deadly incident happened days after the recent tragic attack in the country, which left 21 people dead.

On March 18, a group of gunmen attacked the National Bardo Museum, located in the capital, Tunis, near the parliament building, killing 21 people. All but one of the victims were foreign tourists.

Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi in an interview with the French weekly Paris Match published Saturday, admitted that security lapses set the stage for the recent tragic attack.

The ISIL Takfiri terrorist group claimed responsibility for the attack, which lasted for about four hours.

The people of Tunisia, the birthplace of pro-democracy protests across North Africa and the Middle East, revolted against the Western-backed dictator, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, in 2011. Despite the political stability since then, insurgency and terrorists still threaten the North African country.