Your Sons Are At Your Service: Tunisia’s Missionaries of Jihad
This week, there were two different incidents wherein the Tunisian National Guard took down four Tunisian jihadis. The first occurred on Wednesday May 1 in Jabal Chambi in Kassserine Governorate when it arrested Katibat ‘Uqbah Bin Nafi member Ra’id Bin ‘Iz al-Din Bin al-Az’ar Tawati. Based on interviews with him after his arrest, the Tunisian government claims that it helped thwart forthcoming attacks that would have happened during Ramadan. The nature of these attacks (against civilian versus the security sector) is indiscernible based on reporting. However, KUBN’s track record suggests it would likely have been against members of Tunisia’s security forces.
The second incident happened yesterday, Saturday May 4 in Sidi Ali Ben Aoun, a town 25 miles southwest of Sidi Bouzid. It was a preventative action by the National Guard, which led to the killing of three Islamic State members: Muhammad Bin Ibrahim Bin Salih al-Basduri, Hatim Bin al-‘Id Bin Muhammad Basduri, and Muntasar Bin Kharif Bin Muhammad Jaridi Ghuzlani. Following their deaths, the National Guard recovered two Kalashnikovs, a “Steyr” firearm, a homemade grenade, and an explosive belt. Tunisian security would also later arrest a forest ranger this morning since the truck used by the three jihadis last night belonged to him.
So who are these four individuals specifically and what have they been up to with KUBN and IS over the years?
To read the rest of this post, which includes details on the four individuals, click here.