At least 30 killed as militants, Tunisian forces clash in border town

[Valin]

Reuters:

Tarek Amara

Mar. 7 2016

 

Islamist fighters attacked army and police barracks in the Tunisian town of Ben Guerdan near the Libyan border on Monday and at least 30 people, including civilians, were killed in the clashes, residents and the Interior Ministry said. Authorities sealed off the nearby beach resort town of Djerba, a popular destination for foreign and local tourists, and closed two border crossings with Libya, the TAP state news agency said.

 

It was not immediately clear if the attackers crossed the border, but Monday's assault was the type of militant operation Tunisia's government had feared as it prepares for potential spill over from Libya, where Islamic State militants have expanded their presence. Local television broadcast images of soldiers and police crouched in doorways and on rooftops as gunshots echoed in the center of the town. Bodies of dead militants lay in the streets near the army barracks, local residents said.

 

"I saw a lot of militants at dawn, they were running with their Kalashnikovs," Hussein, a resident, told Reuters by telephone. "They said they were Islamic State and they came to target the army and the police."

 

(Snip)

 

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