Six members of the national guard killed by ‘terrorists’ close to the Algerian border, interior ministry says.

At least six members of Tunisia’s security forces have been killed in a “terrorist attack” close to the border with Algeria, the interior ministry has said, updating an earlier death toll.

Ministry spokesman General Sufyan al-Zaq said the officers died on Sunday after a mine exploded as they were patrolling in the Jendouba province near Tunisia’s border with Algeria.

Zaq said the national guard were caught in an “ambush” and that the assailants “opened fire” after the mine exploded.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but since its 2011 revolution, attacks in Tunisia have killed dozens of members of the security forces and 59 foreign tourists.

In 2016, the local chapter of the Islamic State of the Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) attacked military and security posts in the eastern town of Ben Guerdane near Libya, killing 12 soldiers and seven civilians.