TUNIS - Tunisia police shot and killed three suspected Islamist militants in a raid near the Algerian border, a security official said on Monday, days after Algerian troops reportedly killed seven militants on the other side of the frontier.

Clashes broke out on Monday morning when security forces raided a house in northwest Jendouba, the official said. Gunmen disguised as police had killed three officers and a civilian in an attack there last month.

Tunisia has been battling militants from the hardline Islamist movement Ansar al Sharia, which the United States earlier this year listed as a foreign terrorist organisation.

Algerian state news agency APS reported on Friday that Algerian troops had killed seven armed militants who crossed the border from Tunisia.