Dozens of jihadist fighters stormed through the Tunisian town of Ben Guerdan near the Libyan border on Monday attacking army and police posts in a raid that killed at least 50 people, including civilians, the government and residents said.
Local television broadcast images of soldiers and police crouched in doorways and on rooftops as gunshots echoed in the centre of the town. Bodies of dead militants lay in the streets near the military barracks after the army regained control.
Authorities sealed off the nearby beach resort town of Djerba, a popular destination for foreign and local tourists, imposed a curfew on Ben Guerdan and closed two border crossings with Libya after the attack.
It was not clear if the attackers crossed over the border, but it was the type of militant operation Tunisia’s government had feared as it prepares for potential spillover from Libya, where Islamic State militants have gained ground.
Soldiers killed 33 militants and arrested six, the Interior Ministry said. Hospital and security sources said at least seven civilians were killed along with ten soldiers.
More than 3,000 Tunisians have left to fight with Dae’sh and other groups in Syria and Iraq. Tunisian security officials say increasingly they are returning to join the militant group in Libya.
Tunisian forces have been on alert for possible militant infiltrations since last month when a US air strike targeted mostly Tunisian Dae’sh militants at a camp in Libya.