Battle of Ben Guerdane

The Battle of Ben Guerdane occurred on March 7, 2016 in the city of Ben Gardane in Tunisia on the border with Libya. Islamic State forces attempted to seize the city, but were repulsed by the Tunisian military. The clashes continued also on 8 and 9 of March in the area.

Attack

In the early hours of the morning, armed groups attacked the city's military barracks, National Guard and police posts in an attempt to wrest control over the town and carve out a stronghold near the Libyan border along with establishing a new "Emirate". The fighting lasted all day between the attackers and Tunisian military reinforcements, until clashes ended in mid-morning, and continued pursuit operations in the vicinity lasted the rest of the day.

Casualties

The Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of National Defense put the death toll at 55 people, including 36 militants, 12 security forces members and seven civilians. The following day, another five militants were killed by security forces after they were discovered holed up in a house. On 9 March 2016, a soldier and two militants were died. The final death toll was 45 militants, 13 security and 7 civilians.

Reactions

• United Nations: United Nations Security Council condemned “in the strongest terms” the terrorist attack. In a statement, the council considered that “any acts of terrorism are criminal and unjustifiable, regardless of their motivation, wherever, whenever and by whomsoever committed.” It also “underlined the need to bring perpetrators... of these reprehensible acts of terrorism to justice,” reaffirming “the need for all States to combat” this scourge by all means.

See also

• 2014 Chaambi Mountains attack
• 2015 Bardo National Museum attack
• 2015 Sousse attacks
• 2015 Tunis bombing