The threat from ISIS is gathering momentum as it is increasingly using its new found wealth to expand into foreign territories. While it already has an alliance with Nigerian terror group Boko Haram, the group is looking to make an even bigger push into Arica, where relatively weak governance and even weaker military forces mean easy battles and quick land grabs, similar to its strategy in the middle east.
Its latest target in Africa is Tunisia, one of the biggest exporters of fighters to ISIS, which has sent over 3,000 jihadists into the battlefields of Syria and Iraq.
In social-media savvy ISIS style, members published a “teaser” titled “Soon, Soon” on radical Islam forums that promises another video by an unknown group called “ISIS Tunisia Province.”
The teaser footage shows ISIS members watching Tunisian soldiers and filming them with a hidden camera from inside a car. ISIS affiliates in other places quickly began gossiping that the Tunisian Ministry of the Interior had asked Twitter for information about the identity of those who uploaded the video. This prompted ISIS to issue a warning to use security when interacting with the social media platform.
An ISIS presence in North Africa would come in addition to running half of Syria and Iraq, chunks of territory in Libya and Yemen, and smaller areas in Egypt and Algeria. It rules these areas with military commanders and provides civil services to the population.
It also engages in rape, via forced marriages and recently announced plans to forcibly sexually assault over 2 million Iraqi girls.
ISIS only previous link to Tunisia was last year’s attack on the Bardo Museum, in which 21 people, including 18 tourists, were killed.
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