Tunisian forces repelled a militant assault yesterday on a town near the Libyan border killing 35 assailants in what authorities said was a thwarted effort to establish an Islamic emirate. Among a total of more than 50 dead, 11 were security personnel and seven civilians.
President Beji Caid Essebsi condemned as an unprecedented militant attack in Ben Guerdane.
It prompted authorities to close the frontier and order a nighttime curfew. Prime Minister Habib Essid said the aim of the attack was to set up a Daesh emirate in Ben Guerdane but the army and internal security forces have thwarted it.
