Summary Gharsalli, a 32-year-old Tunisian, was one of the leaders of the Okba Ibn Nafaa Brigades.
TUNIS (AFP) - A senior leader of an Al-Qaeda-linked terrorist group that has been blamed for a spate of violence in Tunisia was among five militants killed by security forces in a recent raid, an official said Saturday.
"The DNA test just confirmed that Mourad Gharsalli was shot dead yesterday (Friday)," presidential spokesman Moez Sinaoui wrote in a post on his Twitter account.
The interior ministry had previously said that five "terrorists" were gunned down on Friday in the central region of Gafsa.
Gharsalli, a 32-year-old Tunisian, was one of the leaders of the Okba Ibn Nafaa Brigades, the country s main terrorist group and one the authorities have accused of being behind several recent attacks.
Authorities have blamed the group for a series of attacks, including the March massacre at the Bardo National Museum in Tunis that killed 21 foreign tourists and a policeman. The Islamic State group has claimed that attack.
Tunisia has seen a surge in radical Islam since veteran president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was ousted in a 2011 revolution.
Dozens of members of the security forces have been killed since then in terrorist attacks.
