Gunmen attacked the eastern town of Ben Gardane on Monday and fighting continued past nightfall.
Tunisian Prime Minister Hassid Essid said the assault was an Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) attempt to carve out a stronghold on the border.
"This is an unprecedented attack, planned and organised. Its goal was probably to take control of this area and to announce a new emirate," Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi said.
The death toll includes 36 attackers, seven civilians and 12 members of Tunisia's security forces, Essid said.
Tunisian interior and defence ministers travelled to the town to oversee heightened border protection operations on Tuesday, according to a joint statement.
The attackers simultaneously targeted an army barracks and police posts with heavy weaponry, including rocket-propelled grenades.
- The government imposed a curfew in Ben Gardane.
A security and military campaign began last week in Ben Gardane after Tunisian security officials said "terrorist groups" had infiltrated the country.
Officials said that the campaign followed raids in Libya against ISIL.
Fighters trained in Libya carried out several deadly attacks inside Tunisia last year.
Al Jazeera's Nazanine Moshiri, reporting from Ben Gardane, said the strategically important town is regarded as the "gateway to Libya".
- It serves as a hub for arms trafficking and smuggling of everyday goods.
"Tunisia has built a fence along the border with Libya, but that doesn't seem to stop the movement of armed attackers coming in from Libya and targeting the army and security forces," she said.
"In the past week we have seen several incidents of people coming across."
Last Wednesday, troops killed five armed men in a firefight outside the town, in which a civilian was also killed and a commander wounded.
Deadly attacks by ISIL on foreign holidaymakers last year, which dealt a devastating blow to Tunisia's tourism industry, are believed to have been planned from Libya.
Source: Al Jazeera and agencies
8/3/16
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At least 8 tourists killed in Tunisia museum attack. (Tunisia's prime minister says 19 people have been killed)
Tunisia closes largest border point with Libya
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Pentagon plans heavy aerial bombardment to cripple Libyan ISIS...
ReplyDeleteThe Pentagon has presented the White House with the most detailed set of military options yet for attacking the growing Islamic State threat in Libya, including a range of potential air strikes against training camps, command centers, munitions depots and other militant targets.
Air strikes against as many as 30 to 40 targets in four areas of the country would aim to deal a crippling blow to the Islamic State's most dangerous affiliate outside of Iraq and Syria, and open the way for western-backed Libyan militias to battle Islamic State fighters on the ground. Allied bombers would carry out additional air strikes to support the militias on the ground. The military option was described by five US officials who have been briefed on the plans and spoke about them on the condition of anonymity because of their confidential nature.
Defence secretary Ash Carter outlined this option to President Barack Obama's top national security advisers at a so-called principals meeting on February 22. But the plan is not being actively considered, at least for now, while the Obama administration presses ahead with a diplomatic initiative to form a unity government from rival factions inside Libya, administration officials said....http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/middle-east/US-plans-heavy-aerial-bombing-to-cripple-Libya-ISIS/articleshow/51317018.cms