adminTUNIS. — Tunisian authorities have arrested suspected Islamist militants from Libya and Tunisia who were allegedly plotting attacks against tourist and industrial sites, Interior Minister Lotfi Ben Jeddou said yesterday.The suspects had infiltrated Tunisia from Libya “and their targets were tourism and industrial zones”, the minister told local radio stations.
“They were arrested, and mines, explosive belts and explosives were seized,” Ben Jeddou said.
An interior ministry spokesman said 16 suspects were arrested in the southern town of Ben Guerdane near the porous border with Libya, with three of them detained early yesterday.
Since late 2012, security forces have been battling dozens of militants hiding out in the remote Mount Chaambi region, near the Algerian border, where eight soldiers were killed in an ambush last July.
Authorities say the militants are linked to Al-Qaeda.But jihadists have not claimed the attacks that have rocked Tunisia since the 2011 uprising, including two foiled suicide bombings in October targeting tourist sites.
Last year, more than 20 security personnel were killed in what the government says were “terrorism-related incidents”. — AFP.
Online Reporter