This Month in Tunisian Jihadism Historically – May

May 1985: Shafiq al-Tunisi arrived in Afghanistan

May 7, 1989: Shafiq al-Tunisi died in the Battle of Jalalabad in Afghanistan

May 1999: Rida Bin Salih al-Yazidi (Salih al-Tunisi and Rida al-Tunisi) returned to Afghanistan

May 17, 2000: The GSPC attacked a Tunisian border post in Thala, which injured two members of the National Guard

May 18, 2000: ‘Abd al-Satar Dahmani arrived in London to learn manhaj with Abu Qatadah al-Filistini prior to being involved in the assassination of Ahmad Shah Masud

May 2001: Shaykh Lassad Sassi (Abu Hashim, Muni ‘Ali, and Salim Sadiq) left Milan and traveled to Algeria to join the GSPC

May 2003: Bubakr al-Hakim returned to Paris after being a foreign fighter in the early days of the Iraq war

May 2004: Abu Usamah al-Tunisi took part in the beheading of Nicholas Berg for Jama’at al-Tawhid wa-l-Jihad in Iraq

May 2004: A broken-up Iraq jihad network that included Tunisians in Florence, Italy that sought to recruit individuals to become suicide bombers in Iraq

May 2005: Zayd Ghudhbani was arrested in Tunisia for trying to join the GSPC in Algeria

May 18, 2005: a group of Tunisians were arrested in a second attempt at bombing the Cremona Cathedral in Italy

May 2007: Ten Tunisians amongst fifty-nine Fatah al-Islam members were arrested in Lebanon

May 2007: Algerian security forces discovered an AQIM training camp in El Oued, 390 miles southeast of Algiers and 55 miles west of the Tunisian border that contained some Tunisians

May 2008: Tariq bin al-Tahar bin al-Falih al-Awni al-Harzi (Abu ‘Umar al-Tunisi) was arrested by U.S. special operations forces in western Ninawa Province. He had been a key facilitator named in the Sinjar Records and became the head of the Islamic State’s foreign fighter recruitment network.

May 2009: Atnan J. alongside five Turks were arrested when attempting to crossover into Waziristan after leaving Bonn, Germany in March 2009

May 18, 2011: Announcement for the first ever Ansar al-Sharia in Tunisia conference

May 21, 2011: First Ansar al-Sharia in Tunisia event

May 2012: Ansar al-Sharia in Tunisia’s second annual conference titled ‘a building block in the project to establish the Caliphate State’

May 12-14, 2012: Ahmad Bin ‘Umar al-Hazimi’s visited Tunisia and did a series of lectures at the Grand Mosque in Medenine on the topic of Sharah Kitab A‘lam al-Sunnah al-Manshurah fi A‘tiqad al-Ta’ifah al-Mansurah (Commentary of the Book “Highlights of the Sunni Knowledge on the Creed of the Victorious Sect”) by Hafidh al-Hakami

May 2013: Sabri Isid returned to foreign fighting in Syria with the Islamic State after having previously joining the group in the mid-2000s and who was arrested in December 2006 by Iraqi security forces and deported back to Toulouse, France, via Syria.

May 2013: Tunisian foreign fighters (among others) under the direction of Mukhtar Bilmukhtar conducted an attack against a French military base in Agadez, Niger

May 2, 2013: Katibat ‘Uqba Bin Nafi was involved in clashes with Tunisian military in Jebel Chambi in Kasserine Governorate

May 6, 2013: Katibat ‘Uqba Bin Nafi conducted a mine explosion in Jebel Chambi in Kasserine Governorate

May 10, 2013: The Tunisian government for the first time blocked AST from conducting its dawa activities for not having legal permits to set up tents and events

May 19, 2013: Ansar al-Sharia in Tunisia’s third annual conference titled ‘Supporters of Islamic Law, The Islamic State We Are Building’

May 23, 2014: Katibat ‘Uqba Bin Nafi conducted a landmine explosion in Jebel Chambi in Kasserine Governorate

May 28, 2014: Katibat ‘Uqba Bin Nafi targeted Tunisia’s Interior Minister Lutfi Bin Jiddu in Kasserine Governorate in a failed assassination attempt

May 2, 2015: The Islamic State clashes with Tunisia’s Special Forces in Jabal al-Sallum in Kasserine Governorate

May 13, 2015: Tunisia’s minister of religious affairs, Batikh ‘Uthman, created a specialized register to keep tabs on those who run and preach at the mosques in the country. The government also announced the launch of a religious reeducation program in the country’s prisons.

May 15, 2015: IS’s al-Furqan Media released an audio message from the ‘Mujahidin of Tunisia of al-Qayrawan’ giving baya to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and joining IS

May 21, 2015: Following U.S. president Barack Obama’s meeting with Tunisian president Beji Caid Essebsi, it was announced that Tunisia would be named a “major non-NATO ally” of the United States. This designation provided Tunisia access to extra military assistance.

May 24, 2015: Abu Fatimah al-Tunisi appeared in the IS video “The Raid of al-Ma’amir / Zawba’” from its Wilayat al-Janub Media Office

May 25, 2015: The Islamic State conducts the Bouchoucha Barracks Attack in Tunis

May 2016: Fathi bin Awn al-Murad al-Tunisi (Abu Sayyaf al-Tunisi), the head of IS’s Diwan al-Rikaz (Administration of Precious Things from the Ground [e.g., oil, gas, antiquities]) in Wilayat al- Khayr and Wilayat al-Barakah was killed during a U.S. Army Delta Force operation

May 5, 2016: Abu Ahmad al-Tunisi appeared in the IS video “Sinai of Pride and Defiance” from its Wilayat al-Jazirah Media Office

May 17, 2016: The Islamic State conducts an IED attack and wounds Tunisian soldiers in Jabal al-Maghilah in Kasserine Governorate

May 18, 2016: Abu Musa al-Tunisi appeared in the IS Libya video “And That He Will Surely Establish for Them [Therein] Their Religion”

May 29, 2016: Khabab al-Tunisi appeared in the IS Libya video “From Humiliation to Glory”

May 17, 2018: Justice Minister Ghazi Jeribi proposed the creation of a judiciary dedicated to crimes of terrorism among children and adolescents, noting that this sector does not exist in the judicial component of the fight against terrorism.

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