Libya: Tunisia targets militants near border, Italy readies forces

Tunisian forces have reportedly killed 35 militants and arrested several more near the border with Libya. The individuals attacked police and army posts, ending in a total of 53 deaths in the area. The Ras Jedir border crossing with Libya has been closed, along with the main road from Ben Guerdane near the border, to the rest of the country. The prime minister was expected to hold a meeting with the ministers of defence and interior to discuss the issue. The security forces have been on alert, due to reports that militants have been crossing the border into Tunisia following a US airstrike on an ISIS camp in Libya last month. The situation has prompted Italy to ready a 5,000-strong international force for deployment in Libya to help mentor and train a new Libyan army if a unity government is agreed.

Tunisian forces have killed 21 jihadis who attacked police and army posts near the Libyan border in clashes which left four civilians dead. It was the second deadly exchange in the border area in less than a week.

The defence ministry said a soldier was also killed during the attack on an army barracks in the town of Ben Guerdane on Monday. Hospital official Abdelkrim Chafroud said a 12-year-old was among the dead civilians, and that two security agents were killed.

Six militants were wounded and detained, the defence ministry spokesman Rachid Bouhoula said.

The interior ministry said the militants also attacked a police station and a national guard post in the town, but those attacks were repelled. Army units were deployed across the town and authorities ordered a nighttime curfew.

The Ras Jedir border crossing with Libya was closed, as well as the main road connecting Ben Guerdane with the rest of Tunisia through the town of Zarzis, 45 miles (70km) north.

Witnesses said troops used loudhailers to urge residents to stay indoors. The defence ministry appealed for information on any suspicious activity.

The office of the prime minister, Habib Essid, said he would hold an emergency meeting with the defence and interior ministers.

Last Wednesday, troops killed five militants in a firefight outside Ben Guerdane in which a civilian was also killed and a commander wounded. Troops have been on alert in the area following reports that militants had been slipping across the border ever since a US airstrike on an Islamic State training camp in Libya on 18 February killed dozens of Tunisian militants.

At least four of the five militants killed in last week’s firefight were Tunisians who had entered from Libya in an attempt to carry out attacks in their homeland, the interior ministry said. Deadly attacks by Isis on foreign holidaymakers last year, which dealt a devastating blow to Tunisia’s tourism industry, are believed to have been planned from Libya.

Tunisia has built a 125-mile barrier along almost half the length of its border with Libya in an attempt to stop militants infiltrating.

Last month’s US strike on the Isis training camp outside the Libyan city of Sabratha targeted the suspected mastermind of two of last year’s attacks, Noureddine Chouchane. Washington has said Chouchane was likely to have been among the dozens of militants killed, and that the strike probably averted a mass shooting or similar attack in Tunisia.

Chaos has engulfed Libya since the Nato-backed ousting of dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

Rival administrations which have vied for power since mid-2014 are being urged to sign up to a UN-brokered national unity government to help restore stability and tackle a growing jihadi presence. Isis and other extremist organisations have exploited the power vacuum to seize significant territory along the coast around the central city of Sirte, as well as around Sabratha, between Tripoli and the Tunisian border.

The Isis presence just across the Mediterranean from Europe has raised alarm bells among western governments, which have made contingency plans for intensified military action against the jihadis. The presence of US, British and French special forces have already been reported in Libya.

A contingent of about 50 Italians was set to join them, Il Corriere della Sera reported on Thursday, citing a classified order signed by the prime minister, Matteo Renzi, last month.

Britain announced last week it was sending a team of about 20 soldiers to Tunisia to train troops patrolling the border with Libya.

Thirty Britons were among 38 foreign holidaymakers killed in a gun and grenade attack on a beach resort near the Tunisian city of Sousse last June, while last March, jihadi gunmen killed 21 tourists and a police officer at the Bardo museum in Tunis.

According to a UN working group on the use of mercenaries, more than 5,000 Tunisians, mostly aged 18 to 35, have travelled abroad to join jihadi groups, many of them in Libya.