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An elite anti terror unit from the Tunisian National Guard carried out a well-executed raid that resulted in the deaths of two terrorist leaders belonging to the Uqba bin Nafi Battalion in the city of Sidi Bouzid. Three other suspects were arrested.
Both of the dead insurgents were wearing explosive suicide belts, and one blew himself up during the gun battle, but only managed to kill himself. The other insurgent was killed by small arms fire about an hour into the firefight. Although not confirmed, one of the deceased, the one who blew himself up, is said to have been the top emir of the Uqba bin Nafi Battalion insurgent group.
Uqba bin Nafi Battalion is the Tunisian wing of al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and also falls under Ansar al Sharia, the group partly responsible for the September 11, 2012 attacks on the US Consulate and CIA annex in Benghazi, Libya, which resulted in the deaths of six Americans.