Tunisian soldier looks towards Mount Chaambi in region of Kasserine Tunisian Prime Minister Ali Larayedh reiterated his government\'s determination \"to fight terrorism and to dismantle this terrorist group\" on Thursday. The authorities have been hunting an Islamist cell since December when it attacked a border post, killing a member of the National Guard.
The army has intensified its search since the end of April, using mortar fire and dogs, after home-made landmines planted by the jihadists to protect their base wounded a dozen soldiers.
In all, around 20 soldiers have been injured by bombs but the latest attack marks the first deaths.
Residents of Kasserine demonstrated on Thursday afternoon to condemn the violence. Protesters chanted slogans criticising the Tunisian government and called for better security along the shared Algerian border – which has become a crossing for arms smuggling.  
Last Saturday, three soldiers were wounded in the Mount Chaambi area when a landmine exploded underneath their vehicle, and another was accidentally shot dead by colleagues during a separate operation there.
The authorities say none of the militants - a group of about 30 Algerians, Libyans and members of Tunisia\'s radical Salafist group Ansar al-Sharia -- has so far been killed in the western region.
Interior ministry spokesman Mohamed Ali Aroui said on Friday that 45 \"terrorists\" linked to the group have been arrested since December.
He said the cell was called the Okba Ibn Nafaa brigade, after a 7th century Arab leader who brought Islam to Tunisia, and was preparing attacks against the Tunisian security forces.
The people of Kasserine also denounced what they considered a mislabelled case of terrorism in Mount Chaambi. They criticised the failure of the Tunisian security and army to arrest the Okba Ibn Nafaa cell.