TUNIS, Tunisia: Tunisian authorities said a female suicide bomber killed herself and her baby during counterterrorism operations in a mountainous zone in struggling interior provinces.

Two other extremists were killed in the security operations, according to an Interior Ministry statement Thursday night.

In one operation, Tunisian forces were tracking an extremist group in the Mount Salloum area of Kasserine province. They killed one suspected extremist, whose wife then killed herself by activating an explosive belt, the statement said. The explosion killed her baby in her arms, while an older daughter also at the scene survived, according to the ministry.

Authorities said it was the first time they had reported the presence of a woman among the extremists taking refuge in the area.

In a second operation, in the Mount Mghila area, security forces killed a suspected leader of Tunisia’s Jund Al-Khilafa brigade, the statement said. The brigade pledged allegiance to Daesh and is believed to be behind several attacks in Tunisia in recent years.

AP