On Monday a Tunisian man in the southern region of Ben Guerdane on the run from police “blew himself up” the interior ministry said.
Khalifa Chibani the interior ministry spokesman informed media outlets that the National Guard had received information concerning “two male suspects” in the region bordering Libya.
They tracked them down in the Magroun region close to a nature reserve where they tried to apprehend them but “one of them blew himself up,” he said.
“The other suspect was armed with a Kalashnikov assault rifle and opened fire on the police but there were no injuries.” he said.
The attempt to capture him is still underway.
Tunisia has faced a jihadist insurgency responsible for the deaths of dozens of soldiers, police, civilians and foreign tourists since its 2011 revolution.
Tunisia has been under a state of emergency since November 2015, when a suicide bombing in Tunis claimed by the Islamic State jihadist group killed 12 presidential guards.
The last recorded major attacks were a series of deadly operations in 2015 and an IS offensive into the town of Ben Guerdane in March 2016.
Thousands of Tunisians have joined jihadist groups fighting in Iraq, Syria and neighbouring Libya.
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