Assailants killed 14 Tunisian soldiers in an attack near the Algerian border, the government said Thursday, the worst such attack in the army's history as it presses a crackdown on Al-Qaeda-linked jihadists.
The attack took place on Wednesday evening as Tunisians were breaking their day-long Ramadan fast, with two "terrorist groups" opening fire on twin army posts with machine guns and grenade launchers, the defence ministry said.
It gave no details of the groups.
But the ministry has previously insisted that militants the army has been hunting since late 2012 in the remote Mount Chaambi border region, where the soldiers were killed on Wednesday, are linked to Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).
"The toll is 14 dead soldiers and 20 wounded, and it is expected to rise," the defence ministry said, updating an earlier toll of four killed during the attack.
"This is the heaviest recorded (death toll) to have been registered by the army since independence" in 1956, the ministry's press office told AFP.
President Moncef Marzouki declared three days of national mourning on Thursday.
Government spokesman Nidhal Ouerfelli condemned what he called a "heinous act" and underscored the unwavering determination of the authorities to defend Tunisia.
"Our national army is determined to continuing its fight against terrorism whatever the sacrifices, for the benefit of our nation," defence ministry spokesman Lamjed Hammami told reporters late on Wednesday.
The attacks came almost a year to the day after eight Tunisian soldiers were found with their throats slit after being ambushed in the western Kasserine region.
