- Local Name: N/a
- Transliteration: Jund al-Asad Ibn al-Furat
- Alternatives: Soliman Group, Groupe de Soliman
- Status: 2006-2007 Defeated
- Conflicts: Tunisian Islamist Militancy
The Soldiers of Asad Ibn al-Furat [JAIF; Jund al-Asad Ibn al-Furat] was a small Tunisian Salafi jihadi outfit that was briefly active in the mid-2000s.1 The outfit was intimately tied to the Algeria-based Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat [GSPC; Groupe Salafiste pour la Prédication et le Combat] and effectively acted as its Tunisian branch.2
The JAIF was based in and around the towns of Grombalia, Hammamlif and Soliman.3 Its members established a training camp in the hills near Grombalia.4 During its brief existence, the group’s cadres recruited fighters and ran logistical operations in Tunisia’s Ben Arous, Kasserine, Nabeul, Sidi Bouzid, Sousse and Tunis governorates.5
Former Tunisian police officer and GSPC operative Lassaâd Sassi headed the JAIF.6 He was trained by al-Qa’ida at camps in Afghanistan and fought in several overseas conflicts before joining the jihadis in Algeria.7 Sassi’s deputy was Rabi’a Bacha who like Sassi was a member of the GSPC.8
Approximately fifty jihadi operatives constituted the JAIF. Apart from one Mauritanian national, all the group’s cadres were Tunisian citizens.9 Several JAIF members, including its leaders, were operatives of the GSPC.10 The group was heavily armed and its fighters were well-trained.11 Most of the group’s cadres were reported to have been trained in Tunisia itself.12
In early 2006, jihadi operative Lassaâd Sassi was tasked by the GSPC to establish a network of cells in Tunisia to provide logistical support and launch operations in the country. Sassi and a few associates crossed into Tunisia from Algeria in April 2006.13 They tried to set up a camp on Mount Chaâmbi, but the plan was thwarted when police arrested two of the module’s members as they were gathering supplies.14 Sassi and his remaining fighters left the Kasserine governorate in June 2006 and traveled to the town of Hammamlif where the cell started attracting Salafi extremists and instructed them in weapons handling and bomb-making.15
In November 2006, Sassi’s module came into contact with a small group of radical Salafis from Sousse who had retreated to the hills near Grombalia to prepare for jihad.16 In early December 2006, both entities merged and formally set up the JAIF.17 Most of the outfit’s cadres soon congregated at a camp in the hills. At the same time, the JAIF reportedly started making plans to launch attacks.
On Dec. 23, 2006, a gun battle broke out between several JAIF operatives and police forces who tried to stop their vehicle in the town of Hammamlif. Two of the terrorists were killed and two policemen were hurt in the encounter.18 Security forces subsequently raided one of the JAIF’s safe houses in Hammamchot and arrested an associate of the outfit in Sidi Bouzid.19 A few days later on Dec. 28, Tunisian security forces conducted operations against the JAIF in the hills where they were hiding, sparking a round of firefights. Although the militants suffered no casualties, their lair was discovered and they were forced to flee the site.20 On Jan. 03, 2007, security forces besieged a house in which most of the JAIF’s core militants were hiding out on the outskirts of Soliman, setting off a series of confrontations in which one soldier, a policeman and twelve terrorists were killed.21 The dead included JAIF leader Lassaâd Sassi and his deputy.22 Fifteen other cadres of the outfit were arrested in the operation.23
In the immediate aftermath of the clashes, the Tunisian government publicly declared that the gunmen belonged to a criminal entity and downplayed the gravity of the situation.24 The authorities only acknowledged the truth after the French press had reported that jihadis were responsible for the fighting.
At the time of the operations against the JAIF, the outfit was plotting to attack the American and British embassies, a French-owned supermarket and hotels in Tunis.25 The strikes were scheduled for Dec. 31, 2006.26
A few months after the JAIF was rolled up, a Tunisian court started proceedings against more than twenty apprehended members of the group. On Dec. 30, 2007, the court sentenced two of the jihadis to death and gave the other terrorists prison terms ranging from eight years to life.27 In February 2008, an appeals court reduced the death penalty of one JAIF member to life imprisonment, but confirmed the sentences of all other militants.28
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