The Tunisian Ministry of Defense announced in a statement, on Wednesday, that a Tunisian soldier was killed as a result of a military patrol on the Tunisian-Libyan border being subjected to “sudden and unidentified gunfire.”
The ministry’s statement said: “A military patrol operating in the Remada sector (in the state of Tataouine, south-east), which was in the process of carrying out its normal duties in the buffer border zone at dawn today, was exposed to sudden and unknown source of fire, which resulted in the death of a soldier from the patrol.”
The ministry added that an investigation has been opened to investigate the circumstances of the incident.
It is noteworthy that Tunisia is tightening its security measures on the border with Libya to combat the phenomenon of infiltration and smuggling, by establishing a military buffer zone. In 2015, a 250-kilometre-long buffer trench was dug on the border, in addition to strengthening the presence of various security wires.
Since the summer of 2013, the southern border strip linking Tunisia, Algeria, and Libya has been declared a military buffer zone, to which entry is prohibited except with licenses from the authorities.
Tunisia and Libya share a border of about 500 kilometers and are connected by only two land crossings: the Ras Jadir crossing and the Dhiba Wazen crossing.
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