Three police, jihadist killed in Tunisia

Terrorists fatally shoot three law enforcement officers during running clash in Tunis

Illustrative: Tunisian security forces secure the area after gunmen attacked Tunis' famed Bardo Museum on March 18, 2015. (photo credit: AFP/ FETHI BELAID)

TUNIS, Tunisia — Three Tunisian police and a suspected jihadist were killed on Monday in clashes in the center of the country, the interior ministry said.

“The national guard attempted to ambush at dawn two terrorists on a motocycle in Sidi Ali Ben Aoun after obtaining information that (they) were about to launch an operation,” ministry spokesman Mohamed Ali Aroui told AFP.

He said two officers were killed in the ensuing shootout, and that the militants fled and then killed a third policeman who was making his way to work at the time.

They were pursued by an elite unit of the national guard, Aroui said.

“One of the terrorists was exterminated, the second was wounded and arrested. He is in serious condition,” he added.

Tunisia has seen a surge in radical Islam since veteran president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was ousted in the 2011 revolution.

Dozens of security forces have been killed since then in jihadist attacks.

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