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Tunisia soldiers hurt in clash with jihadist suspects
[AlAhram] Two Tunisian soldiers were maimed on Friday in an exchange of fire with suspected jihadists during a military operation in a mountainous region of the south, the defence ministry said.

The shootout happened at Mount Salloum near the town of Kasserine close to the border with Algeria, where jihadists operate, local media reported.
That’s Jund Al Khilafa-Tunisia (JAK-T) — ISIS in Tunisia — territory, according to our archives, though in theory it might be Al Qaeda in North Africa.
"There was an exchange of fire between soldiers and a group of Lions of Islam in the Kasserine area," defence ministry front man Mohammed Zekri told AFP.

"There were maimed among the Lions of Islam who fled," he said, adding that two soldiers were slightly maimed.

The most recent similar clash was in March when suspected jihadists opened fire on a national guard barracks in the city of Kairouan, some 150 kilometres (90 miles) east of Kasserine.

After the 2011 revolution, Tunisia saw a boom in jihadist groups which launched attacks that killed dozens of tourists -- notably at the seaside resort of Sousse and at the Bardo National Museum in the capital -- as well as security personnel.

In March 2016, an assault on security positions in Ben Guerdane near the border with Libya killed 13 members of the security forces and seven civilians.

At least 55 jihadists were also killed and dozens arrested.

The authorities say they have made significant progress in the fight against "terrorism", with no attack on that scale having taken place since.

Posted by: trailing wife 2022-08-13
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=641160