The Uqba bin Nafi Battalion, al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb’s (AQIM) branch in Tunisia, has claimed an attack on Tunisian border guards near the town of Bouchebka on the Algerian border.
In a statement released online by one of AQIM’s media wings, the jihadist group says its forces “wounded a number of soldiers with differing degrees of severity and burned a military vehicle.” The statement then says that the ambush took place against the “national guards on the path leading to the Bouchebka area in the state of Kasserine.” No photos were released from the assault, however.
Tunisian authorities have confirmed the attack took place, but the officials said that only one border guard was wounded in the ambush. Al Arabiya reports that 15 jihadists were involved in the ambush, with the assailants fleeing towards the Mount Chaambi area after the attack according to the Tunisian Interior Ministry.
Uqba bin Nafi has claimed several attacks in the area over the past two years. In Dec. 2014, the jihadist group claimed two attacks on Tunisian forces in the Mount Chaambi region, posting photos from the raids days later. Just two months later, it took credit for killing four soldiers in an assault in Kasserine. In August of last year, it killed a customs agent in Bouchebka. In the initial claim of responsibility released for the Aug. 24 assault, the jihadist group said that it ambushed a number of customs agents, “killing a group of them.” It also said that it took three weapons, identified as Steyr AUG’s in photos released from the attack.
Its most deadly ambush on the Tunisian military happened in the Mount Chaambi region in July 2014, an incident that left 15 soldiers dead and 20 others wounded.
While Tunisia has been relatively stable, it continues to face a jihadist threat not just from AQIM, but also the Islamic State. The latter group claimed last years attacks on the Bardo Museum (which Tunisian authorities blamed on the Uqba bin Nafi Battalion), an ambush on a popular beach just three months later, and then a suicide bombing in the capital Tunis in November. Earlier this month, the Islamic State also claimed an assault on the Tunisian town of Ben Gardane near the border with Libya. All four attacks left a total of 93 people dead and over one hundred wounded.
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2 Comments
NOW AL-QAEDA IN TUNISIA/AIGERIA WHAT IS NEXT MOVE OF THIS ISLAMIC FORCES ?
I never thought the IS could win, the Muslims are too divided in their language, customs and sartorial traditions, The foreign “Jihadists” are constituted by reprobates, criminals and jailbirds like those from Brussels furthemore IS is a threat to all other terrorist groups as they vie for supremacy over all the other terrorists groups even thought they agree to cleanse the world of all infidels. The resurgence of terrorist activity in Europe and the US is just a cover up the hide they’re on the losing side and know it.