The men, members of the "Soldiers of the Caliphate" group, were killed during a morning operation in the Mount Salloum area near Kasserine, a town close to the Algerian border, the defence ministry said.

The operation came three weeks after a gun battle with suspected jihadists in the same area wounded two Tunisian soldiers, according to authorities.

Tunisia saw a string of jihadist attacks that killed dozens of tourists and security forces in the years following its 2011 revolution, but authorities say they have made major progress against such groups.

The last major jihadist attack in Tunisia was in 2016 in the town of Ben Guerdane on the border with war-torn Libya, when 13 security personnel, seven civilians and 55 jihadists were killed.