TUNIS: A Tunisian soldier was shot dead on Wednesday in an attack on an army patrol in a desert area bordering Libya, the country’s defense ministry said.
“At dawn, a military patrol operating in Remada, which was carrying out its normal duties in the border buffer zone, was targeted by sudden fire from an unknown source,” the ministry said in a statement.
Remada is in the far south of the country.
The attack “resulted in the death of a soldier from the military patrol,” it added.
The ministry said it hadn’t identified the shooter, but an investigation has been opened.
Smugglers have been active in the area while the presence of extremist groups is growing.
In 2013, Tunisia established a buffer zone along the border which civilians are not permitted to enter.
Tunisian military forces often carry out operations in mountainous and desert areas along the borders with Libya and Algeria.
Tunisian soldier dead in attack against patrol: ministry
https://arab.news/yzgr9
Tunisian soldier dead in attack against patrol: ministry
- The ministry said it hadn’t identified the shooter, but an investigation has been opened
- Smugglers have been active in the area while the presence of extremist groups is growing
UN-sanctioned migrant smuggler killed in western Libya
- In June 2018, the UN Security Council imposed sanctions on Al-Dabbashi, along with another five Libyan traffickers
CAIRO: A notorious militia leader in Libya, sanctioned by the UN for migrant trafficking across the Mediterranean Sea, was killed on Friday in a raid by security forces in the west of the country, according to Libyan authorities.
Ahmed Oumar Al-Fitouri Al-Dabbashi, nicknamed Ammu, was killed in the western city of Sabratha when security forces raided his hideout. The raid came in response to an attack on a security outpost by Al-Dabbashi’s militia, which left six members of the security forces severely wounded, according to a statement issued by the Security Threat Enforcement Agency, a security entity affiliated with Libya’s western government.
Al-Dabbashi, who was also sanctioned by the US Treasury for trafficking, was the leader of a powerful militia, the “Brigade of the Martyr Anas Al-Dabbashi,” in Sabratha, the biggest launching point in Libya for Europe-bound African migrants.
Al-Dabbashi’s brother Saleh Al-Dabbashi, another alleged trafficker, was arrested in the same raid, added the statement.
In June 2018, the UN Security Council imposed sanctions on Al-Dabbashi, along with another five Libyan traffickers. At the time, the UN report said that there was enough evidence that Al-Dabbashi’s militia controlled departure areas for migrants, camps, safe houses and boats.
Al-Dabbashi himself exposed migrants, including children, to “fatal circumstances” on land and at sea, and of threatening peace and stability in Libya and neighboring countries, according to the same report.
Al-Dabbashi was also sanctioned by the US Treasury for the same reason.
Libya has been a main transit point for migrants fleeing war and poverty in Africa and the Middle East. The country was plunged into chaos following a NATO-backed uprising that toppled and killed longtime autocrat Muammar Qaddafi in 2011.
The country has been fragmented for years between rival administrations based in the east and the west of Libya, each backed by various armed militias and foreign governments.
