A police officer was killed and another wounded in a night-time ambush on a checkpoint in southern Tunisia, the interior ministry said Sunday.

A police officer was killed and another wounded in a night-time ambush on a checkpoint in southern Tunisia, the interior ministry said Sunday.

Two suspected militants were killed and another seriously wounded in the incident near Kebili, 480 kilometres (300 miles) south of Tunis, in what the ministry described as a “terrorist attack”.

The ambush by motorcycle-mounted gunmen occurred early Sunday on a police checkpoint, it said, adding that a fourth attacker fled the scene.

“Homemade explosives” were found on the motorbikes, the ministry added.

Since its 2011 revolution, Tunisia has experienced an increase in militant attacks that have cost the lives of dozens of members of the security forces and 59 foreign tourists.

The country has been under a state of emergency since November 2015, when a suicide bombing in Tunis claimed by the ISIS militant group killed 12 presidential guards.