KAF, AL-

also spelled El-kef, or Le Kef, town, northwestern Tunisia. The town is situated at an elevation of 2,559 feet (780 m) on the slopes of the Haut (high) Tell, 22 miles (35 km) from the Algerian border. It occupies the site of an ancient Carthaginian town and later Roman colonySicca Veneria. Al-Kaf (The Rock) was an important stronghold during Turkish rule and is now a regional marketplace and strategic road junction on the route to Algeria. There are remains of a rampart, Roman baths, and a temple, as well as large cisterns below the Turkish Casbah (citadel), which crowns a rocky hill in the town's centre. Al-Kaf is surrounded by a region of grain and cattle raising and mining. Inhabitants of this area include sedentary groups of Berbers. Pop. (1984) 34,509.