Mastermind of Last Week’s Attack, Ayman al-Samiri, Killed in Hay al-Intilaka

On July 1, Tunisia’s Interior Ministry put out a wanted notice related to terrorism for Ayman Bin al-Habib al-Khadhiri al-Samiri, who is originally from Hay Ibn Khaldun in Tunis and born March 19, 1996, meaning he was 23. According to the MoI’s spokesperson, Sufyan Zagh, al-Samiri was the mastermind of last week’s twin suicide attacks in Tunis.

As part of their pursuit of al-Samiri, Tunisian security services identified him in the train station of Hay al-Intilaka, which is about a 10 minute drive and 35 minute walk northwest of Hay Ibn Khaldun (see map below). According to reports, when they found him, Tunisian police shot him and then al-Samiri set-off the suicide vest he was wearing and it exploded. There were no other casualties in the incident. According to eye-witnesses, al-Samiri was wearing a niqab, though Tunisia’s Ministry of Interior denied that this was the case. According to Tunisia’s Prime Minister Yusuf Shahid, al-Samiri was the last member of the cell responsible for the attack’s last week.

The Tunisian government claims the weapons cache found at al-Ghufran Mosque on July 3 was al-Samiri’s stash.

In the morning of July 4, the Islamic State claimed responsibility for al-Samiri’s suicide vest explosion of himself after being shot by the police.