TUNIS
The Interior Ministry on Wednesday blamed the Uqba ibn Nafi militia, which recently swore allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) group, for the murder of four Tunisian policemen in an overnight attack near the Algerian border.
"Twenty terrorists from the Uqba ibn Nafi group attacked a National Guard patrol in Kasserine province at around midnight, killing four policemen," ministry spokesman Mohamed al-Araoui said.
According to al-Araoui, the militants gunned down the policemen before seizing their weapons.
The spokesman, however, denied reports that the militants had also managed to abduct a number of policemen.
"This attack is in revenge for the security forces' success in dealing major blows to the group," al-Araoui asserted, going on to say that police were currently searching for the assailants.
"Tunisian Special Forces will respond fiercely to this violence," he said.
No group, however, has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.
Three years ago, the Tunisian government said it had uncovered a "terrorist cell" – allegedly set up by the Oqba ibn Nafi group – near the Algerian border.
Oqba ibn Nafi was said to be affiliated with Al-Qaeda before pledging loyalty to the ISIL in recent months.
Eyewitnesses told The Anadolu Agency that unidentified militants had abducted the four policemen at a local checkpoint.
The policemen's bullet-riddled bodies were later found nearby, witnesses added.
Since late 2012, Tunisia's western region on the border with Algeria has seen several militant attacks that have killed scores of Tunisian security personnel.
