TUNIS: At least six members of Tunisia’s security forces were killed Sunday in a “terrorist attack” near the border with Algeria, the interior ministry said, the country’s deadliest such incident in over two years.
A national guard border patrol in the Ain Sultan area of the Jenduba border province “was hit in a land mine ambush that killed six agents” at 11:45 am (1045 GMT), the ministry said in a statement.
Ministry spokesman General Sufyan Al-Zaq said the blast was a “terrorist attack” and that assailants had “opened fire on security forces” after the mine exploded.
“Combing operations” were underway, said Zaq, who had earlier told AFP that eight guards were killed in the attack.
No group has claimed the attack, which took place in a mountainous border area where the Al-Qaeda-linked Okba Ibn Nafaa Battalion and the Tunisian branch of Daesh, Jund Al-Khilafa (Soldiers of the Caliphate), are active.
Sunday’s assault marks the first major attack in Tunisia since a March 2016 attack on security installations in the town of Ben Guerdane on the Libyan border.
That attack killed 13 security forces and seven civilians.
The latest incident comes as Tunisia is targeting its best tourist season since visitor numbers plummeted in the wake of a string of deadly terrorist attacks in 2015.
Tunisia’s tourism industry was devastated by those attacks, which included one at the National Bardo museum in Tunis and another targeting a beach resort in Sousse that together killed 59 foreign tourists and a Tunisian guard.
In May, Tourism Minister Selma Elloumi Rekik said the industry had made a “real recovery.”
“People are coming back to Tunisia because there is security ... we are at the same level (of security) as any European city,” she said.
Since the 2011 uprising that toppled dictator Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali, terrorist attacks in Tunisia have killed dozens of members of the security forces and foreign tourists.
Since Ben Ali’s fall, “at least 127 militants and 118 soldiers, national guardsmen, and police officers have been killed in the northwest,” according to figures compiled by analyst Matt Herbert and published in June by the Carnegie Endownment for International Peace.
“This new attack shows that there are still pockets where security problems have not been solved,” he told AFP on Sunday, while stressing “the vast majority of Tunisia remains safe.”
The country has been under a state of emergency since November 2015, when a Daesh-claimed suicide bombing in Tunis killed 12 presidential guards.
Nine police killed in attack in western Tunisia
Nine police killed in attack in western Tunisia
- At least six killed as police unit in the region of Jendouba was ambushed during a regular patrol
- Some militants operate in remote areas near the border with Algeria
Iraqi lawmakers to elect president Tuesday, PM appointment next
- Parliamentary speaker Haibat Al-Halbussi announced on Sunday that the new parliament will convene on Tuesday to elect a president
BAGHDAD: Iraq’s parliament will meet on Tuesday to elect the country’s new president, who will then appoint a prime minister expected to be Nouri Al-Maliki after he was endorsed by the largest Shiite bloc.
By convention, a Shiite Muslim holds the post of prime minister, the parliament speaker is Sunni and the largely ceremonial presidency goes to a Kurd.
Parliamentary speaker Haibat Al-Halbussi announced on Sunday that the new parliament will convene on Tuesday to elect a president, according to the official INA press agency.
The president will then have 15 days to appoint a prime minister, who is usually nominated by the largest Shiite bloc formed through post-election alliances.
On Saturday, the Coordination Framework alliance — whose Shiiite factions have varying links to Iran — endorsed former prime minister and powerbroker Al-Maliki as the country’s next premier.
The alliance, to which Al-Maliki belongs, spoke of his “political and administrative experience and his record in running the state.”
Kurdish parties have yet to agree on a presidential candidate, who must be endorsed by other blocs and win a two-thirds majority in parliament.
The presidency is usually held by the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK). This year, the rival Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) named its own candidate: Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein.
Although Maliki’s endorsement effectively guarantees him the post, forming a new government remains a daunting challenge that could drag on for months and still fail.
The designated premier has one month to form a government and present it to parliament for a vote of confidence.
The 75-year-old Maliki, a shrewd politician, is set to return to power at a time of seismic changes in the Middle East, as Tehran’s regional influence wanes and tensions with Washington rise.
Government formation in Iraq must balance internal political dynamics and power-sharing among major parties, all under the continued influence of Iraq’s two main allies: Iran and the United States.
A close Iran ally, Al-Maliki will be expected to address Washington’s longstanding demand that Baghdad dismantle Tehran-backed factions, many of which are designated terrorist groups by the US.
Last month, Iraqi officials and diplomats told AFP that Washington demanded the eventual government exclude Iran-backed armed groups, even though most of them hold seats in parliament, and have seen their political and financial clout increase.
But Iraq is struggling with weak economic growth and cannot risk punitive measures by the US, which has already sanctioned several Iraqi entities, accusing them of helping Tehran evade sanctions.
