Tunisian forces have launched a crackdown on Takfiri militants’ positions and radio stations associated with them after a militant attack that killed at least 14 soldiers in a region near the country’s border with Algeria.

On Saturday, Tunisia’s armed forces carried out an operation to expel the militants from their hideout in the Chaambi Mountains on the Algeria border.

The office of Prime Minister Mehdi Joma’a said in a statement that the government decided to close all sites used by the militants for their gatherings and also the radio stations, websites or television stations that publish their messages.

On July 16, militants, armed with rocket-propelled grenades and rifles, attacked a military checkpoint in the remote Chaambi Mountains and killed 14 soldiers.

The remote area is considered as the main Takfiri stronghold in the country.

The recent attack on military checkpoints came during a period of relative calm in Tunisia after a bloody 2013, with the authorities talking of an improved security situation in recent months while warning that the anti-terror struggle will be a long one.

More than 20 security personnel were reportedly killed in 2013 in what the government described as terrorism-related incidents. Two opposition politicians were also assassinated in 2013 in separate attacks that plunged the country into crisis.