Today, Thursday, the Tunisian Interior Ministry announced that it had prevented a terrorist plot in the city of Ben Gerdan, located near the border with Libya, in the southeast of the country.
This was announced by the official representative of the National Guard (Gendarmerie) Hossam El-Din El-Jabali in a press statement.
Al-Jabali said that “the units of the Anti-Terrorism Directorate (Security) and the Specialized Unit of the National Guard in the city of Ben Guerdan, under the supervision of the Prosecutor’s Office at the Judicial Pole for Combating Terrorism (Specialized Court), carried out a pre-emptive operation at dawn today, Thursday.”
He added that a number of weapons and ammunition were confiscated, including 11 Kalashnikov assault rifles, 4,400 rounds of 7.62 caliber and 14 magazines.
The security official indicated that “a prerequisite for the preventive operation is the identification of the involvement of two people in arms smuggling operations in favor of terrorist organizations”, noting that a certain amount of weapons and ammunition was seized.
On March 7, 2016, members of the terrorist organization ISIS attacked the headquarters of the military and security barracks in the city of Ben Gerdan, on the border with Libya, and clashed with security forces and the army.
The attack killed 55 ISIS fighters, 12 Tunisian soldiers and 7 civilians, and arrested 52 suspects who intended to create an “ISIS emirate”, according to Tunisian officials.
In November 2021, the Tunisian security service reported the discovery of shells and land mines left over from the ISIS terrorist attack in 2016 in the city of Ben Guerdan.
