Terrorist groups on Tunisia’s border with Algeria are now isolated and incapable of carrying out any attacks to destabilize the country, announced Interior Minister Hichem Mechichi.
Speaking during a visit to the western central Kasserine province, the minister asserted that Tunisia’s victory over terrorism will start from Kasserine and this will pave the way for major development projects in the region.
He pointed out that the ministry's counter-terrorism strategy has shifted its defensive approach to tracking down terrorists in their hideouts.
Mechichi stressed that security forces are on full alert against any potential threats against the country, indicating that they are capable of confronting any terrorist attack.
“The readiness shown by our security forces and the measures taken by the Interior Ministry are much more important than their [terrorists] own threats,” he was quoted by the official state agency (TAP).
Military units operating in the Kasserine highlands had announced that they had foiled a number of terrorist operations targeting military and security forces.
The Defense Ministry showed pictures of a number of tools found with terrorists who were planning to manufacture explosives and bombs.
The Ministry also confirmed that the army detected suspicious movements in the region, and after a searhch, they found a cache of gas flasks, electric wires, ammonia and other accessories need for the manufacture mines and explosive devices.
Preliminary investigations revealed that a terrorist group affiliated with “Uqba ibn Nafi battalion”, which pledged allegiance to al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, was planning to target security and military patrols.
The terrorist group was also monitoring the security and military patrols and their movement as part of its plan to execute a number of simultaneous terrorist operations.
Dozens of soldiers were killed in a number of terrorist attacks in Kasserine between 2014 and 2015 during the holy month of Ramadan what is now referred to as the Hanchir Ettala attack.
