2006–2007 Tunisia clashes

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2006–2007 Tunisia clashes
Part of Insurgency in the Maghreb (2002–present)
Tunisia in its region.svg
Date23 December 2006 – 3 January 2007
Location
Soliman and Hammam-Lif, Tunisia
Result Tunisian government victory
Belligerents
Flag of Tunisia.svg  Tunisia Flag of Jihad.svg GSPC
Commanders and leaders
Lassaad Sassi
Casualties and losses
2 dead 14 dead, 17 arrested
60 dead

On 23 December 2006 and 3 January 2007, Tunisian security forces engaged in clashes with members of a group with connections to the Islamist terror group Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) in the towns of Soliman and Hammam-Lif south of the capital Tunis, killing more than a dozen people. [1] [2]

Clashes

On 23 December, two Islamists were killed and two arrested in a shootout with police in the town of Hammam-Lif south of Tunis. [3]

On 3 January, at least two members of Tunisian security forces and twelve Islamists were killed, and fifteen arrested in a clash in a forested area near Soliman. [3] [4]

Among those killed was the leader of the group, Lassaad Sassi, a former Tunisian policeman who had spent time in Afghanistan and headed a terror network based in Milan, Italy. Sassi's group had reportedly established training camps in the mountains in Djebel Ressas and Boukornine south of the Tunisian capital. [5]

According to French daily Le Parisien at least 60 people were killed in the clashes. [1] It was later revealed that the Islamists had been in possession of blueprints of foreign embassies as possible targets. [3] [4] The attacks were the most serious by Islamists in Tunisia since the Ghriba synagogue bombing in 2002. [1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Terror in the Maghreb". 14 February 2007.[ dead link ]
  2. ↑ "Profile: Al-Qaeda in North Africa". BBC News. 17 January 2013.
  3. 1 2 3 Smith, Craig S. (14 January 2007). "Tunisia Says Suspects in Gun Battle Had Blueprints of Embassies". The New York Times.
  4. 1 2 "Archives". Los Angeles Times . 13 January 2007.
  5. ↑ Botha, Anneli (June 2008). "Chapter 4: Terrorism in Tunisia". Institute for Security Studies.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
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