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| Africa North |
| Tunisian army continues Jebel Chaambi crackdown |
| 2014-05-07 |
| [MAGHAREBIA] Tunisian troops killed a gunman in Jebel Chaambi as the army continued its sweep of the terrorist stronghold along the Algerian border, AFP reported Monday (May 5th). "Two people were identified in the closed military zone," defence ministry front man Colonel Major Taoufik Rahmouni told Tunisian radio. "The two men did not obey the order to stop and tried to flee. We opened fire. One of them was maimed and died at the scene and the other fled." The army recovered weapons and ammunition, according to the front man, who described the dead gunman as wanted by authorities. Last Friday, Rahmouni told TAP that the army was on "the verge of completing progress on several axes in the zone of military operations in Kasserine". "They will proceed to carry out incursions into the mountainous region in order to hunt down turbans who refused confrontation and to open paths and secure them," he added. Security expert Tariq Ben Mansour predicted that the army would "inflict a crushing defeat on turbans who have lost their logistical support after pressure was applied on them from all sides, with the help of Algerian forces". According to the expert, the operation was in its final stage and the Tunisian army will find a number of charred bodies due to days of intense bombardment of the terrorists' positions. Back in mid-April, the army launched a new ground offensive on several fronts after army aviation and artillery destroyed terrorists' positions. "Security operations in Chaambi are witnessing remarkable progress," Interior Minister Lotfi Ben Jeddou said on Labour Day. "National Army units reached the peaks; the goal is to eradicate terrorism." There could be up to 20 turbans in the region, according to interior ministry front man Mohammed Ali Aroui. "They are Tunisian and Algerian nationals and also [others] from other African countries," he previously told Magharebia. Shaker Hamdi, resident of a neighbourhood adjacent to Jebel Chaambi, said, "The situation is somewhat calm now and we no longer hear the sound of guns or see military aircrafts in the skies of the region. We learned that the Tunisian army started to move on the ground and began to hunt for the remains of terrorists." "It has entered a critical stage after aerial cover and artillery bombardments gave good results and pushed turbans into a defensive position," security expert Maher al-Saihi explained. "Terrorists were for a long time the initiators of attacks. The national army made up its mind and is now the initiator." |
| Posted by:Fred |