The Chaambi Operations or Battle of Chaambi is part of the insurgency in the Maghreb (2002–present). In December 2012, the Tunisian Army launched an offensive against the Salafist jihadists in Jebel ech Chambi near Kasserine.
Timeline
2013
On June 6, a Tunisian vehicle hit a roadside bomb in Doghra in Jebel Chambi: Two soldiers were killed and two others wounded. According to the Tunisian government, jihadists belonging to militias Okba ibn Nafaâ, an al-Qaida cell in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and Ansar al-Sharia. The latter group, led by Seifallah Ben Hassine, known as "Abu Iyadh" however say they have no connection with the clashes delivered Jebel Chambi.
On 18 July, in the wilaya of El Oued, the Algerian army intercepted a pickup truck loaded with weapons from Libya to Jebel Chambi; two of its occupants were killed.
July 29, around 6 pm, a group of Tunisian soldiers were ambushed in Sabaa Diar, in Jebel Chambi. Their truck was strafed by some thirty rebels Salafists, several soldiers being disarmed and executed. Eight soldiers were killed and three others injured, one fatally, several bodies being slaughtered. According to Mohamed Ali Aroui, spokesman for the Interior Ministry, Gadhgadhi Kamel, suspected of being the murderer of Chokri Belaid man, took part in the slaughters. The same day at Talla an army vehicle hit a mine, wounding three men.
On the evening of August 1, the Tunisian army launched an offensive on the Djebel Chambi with ground forces and air force, saying combat katiba Okba Ibn Nafaâ. The clashes come during the night of August 3 to 4 would have a dozen rebels dead. On August 4, a Tunisian military vehicle hit a mine: a soldier was killed and seven wounded. One of the soldiers died of his wounds the following day, bringing to fourteen the number of military and Tunisian national guard officers killed in Jebel Chambi since December 2012.
On August 5, three insurgents fleeing the mountain killed by Algerian forces deployed to the border in the region of Bir el-Ater, in Tébessa.
On 6 August, the interior minister, Lotfi Ben Jeddou says that 140 Salafists took part in the fighting in the Jebel Chambi and that 46 of them were captured.
Four jihadists were killed on the evening of August 7.
On August 11, four jihadists were killed and four others captured.
On August 27, the Tunisian government, which includes Ennahda, the Congress for the Republic, Ettakatol accuses Ansar al-Sharia to be linked to al-Qaeda and of being responsible for political assassinations and attacks in the Jebel Chambi. Ansar al-Sharia then classified by the government as a terrorist organization.
On 1 September, the spokesman of the Ministry of Interior, Mohamed Ali Aroui says that Salafist rebels entrenched in the Jebel are no more than thirty. According to two prisoners interviewed, fifteen of these fighters are Algerians, the others would Malians, Mauritanians and Tunisians.
On September 2, a statement to Ennahdha, AQIM said he had no connection with the fighting in Jebel Chambi, and says he respects Ayman al-Zawahiri an instruction not to target governments born of the Arab revolutions.
On September 25, Minister Ben Jeddou says fourteen Islamist Ansar al-Sharia and AQIM, which Kamel Gadhgadhi, are still active in Jebel Chambi and fourteen others in Samama. He argues that these insurgents are known by police and twelve of them are Algerians. He also believes that Seifallah Ben Hassine has probably fled to Libya.
In early October, according to an Algerian jihadist prisoner captured in Illizi, 17 men were sent as reinforcements from Libya on the orders of Djamel Okasha.
On the night of October 11 to 12, a unit of the anti-terrorism brigade storms on a house in Kasserine after learning that Mourad Gharsalli descended the mountain to visit his family. However, the attack fails and, after an hour of shooting that partially destroyed the house, jihadists manage to escape. The military did grab a phone and some ammunition.
In November, the Tunisian army carries out several bombings in Jebel Chambi, including the November 12 to 13, 20 to 21, and the 26 December 2, a mine exploded north of Jebel Chambi: a Special Forces officer Captain Youssef Dridi, was killed and another injured.
On 21 and 22 December, eight people suspected of being connected with the jihadists are arrested in Chambi. After identifying suspicious movements, the Tunisian army bombed the mountain on the night of December 27 to 28, then from December 31 to January 1, and January 4.