At least 14 Tunisian soldiers have been reported killed and 20 wounded after gunmen attacked military checkpoints near the Algerian border, where the army has been conducting an operation to flush out armed groups

The fighters, one of whom was reported killed, were armed with rocket-propelled grenades and rifles and attacked the checkpoints in the Mount Chaambi area.

Since April, thousands of Tunisian troops have been deployed to the area, where a small group of fighters have been holed up, some since the French military operation drove al-Qaeda-affiliated fighters out of Mali last year.

“They attacked military checkpoints in Mount Chaambi, there are dead and wounded in this attack with RPGs and rifles,” Rachid Hawela, a defence ministry spokesman told the Reuters news agency.

The attacks came nearly one year after Tunisian soldiers were ambushed in the same region of Mount Chaambi.

Eight soldiers were killed in the attack on July 29 last year which happened several days after the assassination of opposition politician Mohamed Brahmi in Tunis, causing a political crisis in the north African country.

Tunisian security officials say the numbers of fighters in the mountains are only in the dozens, but the government has struggled to comabt the threat.

Last month al-Qaeda in the Islamic Mahgreb, for the first time, claimed responsibility for recent attacks in Tunisia, including an assault in May on the home of the interior minister that left four security guards dead.