Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb’s (AQIM) branch in Tunisia, the Uqba bin Nafi Battalion (KUBN), has claimed responsibility for an improvised explosive device (IED) attack on a group of Tunisian soldiers o patrol. The attack occurred in the Mount Chaambi area of Kasserine with the blast killing one soldier and injuring five others.
The statement was issued through AQIM’s Ifriqiyah Muslimah Telegram page giving an exaggerated account of the attack and congratulating the fighters for killing apostate soldiers. KUBN has been increasing its presence in Tunisia despite remaining small but the past three months IED attacks have increased.
KUBN has remained a small, but persistent threat against Tunisian security despite the country making significant gains against the group. Several senior leaders have been killed in recent years with their most deadly attack being in the Mount Chaambi region in July 2014, an incident that left 15 soldiers dead and 20 others wounded.
AQIM has been making a comeback and countries in the Maghreb are experiencing difficulties in the counterterrorism as they also ISIS which has been increasing its presence since 2015. The threat by the different arms of Al Qaeda across the globe have been on an up-surging trend as ISIS in Iraq and Syria gets pushed out of over 90% of territory previously under the self-declared caliphate.
