Tunis (AFP) - A senior
leader of an Al-Qaeda-linked jihadist group that has been blamed for a
spate of violence in Tunisia was among five militants killed by security
forces in a recent raid, an official said.
"The DNA test just
confirmed that Mourad Gharsalli was shot dead yesterday (Friday),"
presidential spokesman Moez Sinaoui wrote in a post on his Twitter
account.
The interior ministry had previously said that five "terrorists" were gunned down on Friday in the central region of Gafsa.
Gharsalli,
a 32-year-old Tunisian, was one of the leaders of the Okba Ibn Nafaa
Brigades, the country's main jihadist group and one the authorities have
accused of being behind several recent attacks.
Authorities have
blamed the group for a series of attacks, including the March massacre
at the Bardo National Museum in Tunis that killed 21 foreign tourists
and a policeman. The Islamic State group has claimed that attack.
Tunisia has seen a surge in radical Islam since veteran president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was ousted in a 2011 revolution.
Dozens of members of the security forces have been killed since then in jihadist attacks.