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Islamic State invades Star Wars planet Tatooine

Violent terrorists have reportedly begun using a former set of the original Star Wars trilogy as a military base.

The Tunisian town of Tataouine, where remnants of Luke Skywalker’s home planet of ‘Tatooine’ can still be found, has increasingly come under the control of the Islamic State (ISIL) group.

ISIL has used the town as a rebel base, and a first contact point for fighters coming to the continent and crossing the border into Libya, The Guardian reports.

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Two stockpiles of arms thought to have originated from Libya has also been found in the town, including 20,000 rounds of ammunition and rocket-propelled grenade launchers, CNN reported.

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‘Uncle Owen’s House’ from Star Wars is a popular tourist stop in Tunisia.

The town is conveniently placed about 100 kilometres from the border with Libya, a country in the throes of battle with islamic state over territory. Smuggler’s routes across the desert weave their way along the Libyan border.

Tourists to Tunisia visit the site of the Mos Eisley Spaceport made famous in the 1977 space film and can stay in Skywalker’s Uncle Owen’s house, a hotel which receives mixed reviews on Trip Advisor.

Elise M from Westport Connecticut advised prospective visitors to be aware of the conditions at the hotel, in the town of Matmata.

“The ‘hotel’ is a series of caves cut into the earth. Beds are cots. The shared bathrooms … lets just say that smelling them from afar was enough, I couldn’t go any closer,” she said.

The country has been considered dangerous for tourists since the Bardo Museum in the capital Tunis was the site of an ISIS-claimed attack in which gunmen killed 23 people in March.

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