«Murad Ghazlani» … spearhead of the Tunisian terrorist “Jund al-Khalafah”

Tunisian counterterrorism forces succeeded in liquidating the terrorist “Murad al-Ghazlani”, who is the most dangerous element of the “Jund al-Khalafah” battalion of the terrorist organization ISIS in Tunisia.

The Ministry of the Interior of Tunisia said in a statement on Monday that the anti-terrorism units of the National Guard in coordination with the units of the General Directorate of the National Guard’s intervention units in the area of ​​«Thadad», was able on Sunday, 21 October 2018, and after the ambush of an arbitrator to eliminate the dangerous terrorist element competent in The manufacture of explosives called “Murad Ghazlani” by shooting him after he did not comply with the order to stand and threatened to use an explosive belt was worn.

Murad Al-Ghazlani was born in 1992 in the area of ​​«Sabiba» in the state of Kasserine, one of the twenty-four states of Tunisia, located in the center of western Tunisia bordered to the north by the state of Kef, the west of the state of Tebessa Algeria, and the south of Gafsa state, Bouzid and Siliana.

On the 14th of January 2011, the date of the fall of the regime of Tunisian President Zine El Abidine, and the rise of the Islamic trend, headed by the Renaissance Movement, the Muslims Brotherhood branch in Tunisia, many young Tunisians are influenced by the discourse of the Islamic groups, especially in economically poor and marginalized areas, and this led to recruitment many of these groups and the enrollment of a number of them Al Qaeda and «ISIS», up to the number of about 7 thousand elements between 2014 and 2015.

Jund al-Khalafah group emerged for the first time in the fall of 2014, when it broke away from the organization of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, pledging the organization of ISIS, and then joined by Murad al-Ghazlani, and participated in and planned terrorist operations inside the Tunisian state.

Ghazalani is the most important specialist in the manufacture of explosives and the planting of mines targeting the military and security forces, according to the statement of the Tunisian Ministry of the Interior, and the involvement of «Ghazlani» in the assassination of the Tunisian soldier, «Saeed Ghazlani» in his home in November 2016, where he was responsible for the operation, In July 2017.

He also participated in the terrorizing of neighboring families in the Kasserine Mountains, through robberies of foodstuffs, particularly in areas close to the slopes of Jabal al-Mughila and on the slopes of Mount Samama.

The Interior Ministry also accused him of planning to target vital national and diplomatic installations in Tunis, where he was charged with planning and executing an attack on a security facility. He was also involved in preparations with terrorists Hafez al-Rahimi and Munther al-Gharsali for the assassination of three security personnel and three deputies in the city of Kasserine.