Extremists attack Tunisian town near border with Libya; 45 killed

Tunisia’s government said Monday that 45 people have been killed after extremists attacked a town near the border with Libya.

The Interior and Defense ministries said in a statement that the Tunisian government has closed its two border crossings with Libya because of the attack.

The statement said 28 “terrorists” were in the fighting, along with seven civilians and 10 members of Tunisia’s security forces.

The gunmen targeted a police station and military facilities at dawn in the border town of Ben Guerdane in eastern Tunisia, Interior Ministry spokesman Yasser Mosbah told the Associated Press.

France’s Foreign Ministry condemned the attacks and identified the gunmen as “terrorists coming from Libyan territory.”

“This attack is just reinforcing the urgent need for a political solution in Libya,” the ministry said in a statement, adding that the country was targeted because of its “exemplary democratic transition.”

Hospital official Abdelkrim Sakroud said on state radio that three bodies,, including that of the 12-year-old girl, had been brought in after the attack.

The Tunisian military sent reinforcements and helicopters to the area around Ben Guerdane, and authorities were hunting several attackers still at large. Authorities urged residents to stay indoors.

The violence comes amid increasing international concern about Islamic State extremists in Libya. Officials of Tunisia’s fledgling democratic government are especially worried after dozens of tourists were killed in extremist attacks in Tunisia last year.

Last week, Tunisian security forces killed five heavily armed men in an hours-long firefight after they crossed into the country from Libya with a larger group. Tunisian security forces had been placed on alert based on “precise information” of possible border infiltrations following the Feb. 19 U.S. raid on an Islamic State camp near the Libyan town of Sabratha, not far from the Tunisian border, the statement said.

Defense Minister Farhat Horchani said last week that German and American security experts were expected in Tunis on Monday to help Tunisia devise a new electronic video-surveillance system of its border with Libya.

Tunisia was targeted last year by three attacks that left 70 people dead and were claimed by Islamic State. According to Tunisian authorities, the attackers had been trained in Libya.