TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) Tunisia's Defense Ministry has announced that an army captain was killed trying to disarm a roadside bomb discovered by a patrol on Jebel Chaambi near the Algerian border.
For much of the past year, the mountainous area has been the focus of army efforts to root out a band of militants said to have links to al-Qaida.
More than a dozen soldiers and members of the national guard have died on the mountain in ambushes or roadside bombs.
According to the statement, Capt. Youssef Dridi was killed while defusing the bomb and another officer injured.
Tunisia's small military is struggling to stamp out bands of al-Qaida linked militants hiding in the mountainous region along the Algerian border.
