AKIPRESS.COM - Exceptionally deadly clashes between Tunisian forces and extremist attackers left at least 53 people dead Monday near Tunisia's border with Libya, the government said, amid growing fears that violence from Libya could destabilize the whole region.

Gunmen attacked the city of Ben Guerdane at dawn Monday and fighting continued past nightfall. Tunisia closed its border with Libya and the Tunisian interior and defense ministers traveled to the town to oversee the operation, according to a joint statement from their ministries.

Tunisian Prime Minister Hassid Essid said on Wtaniya television that the attack was an Islamic State attempt to carve out a stronghold on the border. No group claimed immediate responsibility, but two IS-affiliated websites said Islamic State group militants were engaged in the fighting, Chicago Tribune reports.

"This is an unprecedented attack, planned and organized. Its goal was probably to take control of this area and to announce a new emirate," Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi said.

At dawn Monday, gunmen targeted a police station and military facilities in Ben Guerdane, Tunisian Interior Ministry spokesman Yasser Mosbah told The Associated Press. A night curfew was ordered in Ben Guerdane until further notice.

The attack and ensuing fighting left 35 attackers, seven civilians and 11 members of Tunisia's security forces dead, according to the joint government statement.

A 12-year-old girl was among those killed.

Corpses lay in the street and gunmen hid in homes as darkness fell, gunfire sporadically ringing out, according to resident and local journalist Raoudha Bouttar.