Tunisian forces clash with militants, one policeman killed

OUED ELLIL Tunisia (Reuters) - A Tunisian policeman was killed on Thursday when security forces clashed with Islamist militants on the outskirts of Tunis, an interior ministry spokesman said, as the country prepares for parliamentary elections. Police negotiators were trying to persuade militants to surrender after surrounding a house in Oued Ellil west of Tunis following heavy exchanges of gunfire, officials and a Reuters witness said. Security forces have cracked down on suspected militants before Sunday's parliamentary election, which is an important test for the North African state as it continues its transition to democracy following the 2011 fall of autocrat Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali. Earlier this month, security forces arrested a group of Islamist militants, including two women, it said had planned to carry out attacks in the capital before the vote. Since the 2011 revolt, Tunisia has advanced towards full democracy, in contrast to the region's other Arab Spring nations. But the country has also struggled to subdue hardline Islamists and jihadists opposed to the transition. Among militant groups operating there is the hardline Islamist movement Ansar al Sharia, which the United States has branded a terrorist organisation and blames for a 2012 attack on the U.S. embassy in Tunis.