TUNIS, Jan 17 (Reuters) – Tunisian authorities said on
Thursday they had arrested a “terrorist” group and seized a big
arms cache, as security forces went on alert after a mass
hostage-taking by Islamist militants in neighbouring Algeria.
The arms included Kalashnikov rifles and rocket-propelled
grenades, a security source said. A statement by the Ministry of
Interior said they were discovered in the southern town of
Medenin, without giving further details.
Al Qaeda-linked Islamists seized dozens of hostages in a
raid on a gas field plant in southeast Algeria this week, to the
south of Tunisia.
Twenty-five hostages escaped and six were killed on Thursday
when Algerian forces launched an operation to free them,
Algerian sources said.
The Islamists said that the attacks were in retaliation for
Algeria allowing France to use its air space to carry out
bombing raids in Mali.
Since the overthrow of former President Zine El Abidine Ben
Ali two years ago, the influence of radical Islamists in Tunisia
has increased. Secularist groups have accused the ruling
moderate Islamist Ennahda party of being too soft on extremists.
Last month, Interior Minister Ali Laryed said Tunisian
police had arrested 16 Islamist militants who had been
accumulating arms with the aim of creating an Islamic state.
They were linked to Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and had
been planning to attack security headquarters, he said.
(Reporting by Tarek Amara; editing by Andrew Roche)
