TUNIS — Tunisia has arrested a cell of 17 militants and prevented a major assault on hotels and security forces in the resort town of Sousse planned for this month, a senior government official said on Tuesday.
Sousse was the site of one of two major attacks claimed by Daesh in Tunisia this year, when 38 foreigners were killed at a beach hotel in June. In March, gunmen killed 21 tourists in an attack at the Bardo Museum in Tunis.
“We have foiled a major attack this month that the terrorist cell was preparing against vital installations, hotels, security centres and against politicians to bring chaos to the country,” Interior Ministry security chief Rafik Chelli said.
Chelli said some of the militants had been trained in Libya and Syria and were awaiting orders to carry out the assault.
He said Kalashnikov rifles, explosives and a bomb belt were also seized during the arrests.
More than 3,000 Tunisians have traveled to fight for militant groups in Syria, Iraq and neighboring Libya. Some of those militants have threatened to return home and carry out attacks on Tunisian soil.
The three gunmen involved in the attacks in Tunis and Sousse this year had also trained in militant camps across the border in Libya, according to Tunisian authorities, who have started building a wall along the frontier with Libya.
Last week, militants beheaded a teenager in the central province of Sidi Bouzid and sent his head to his family after accusing him of spying for the military.
Tunisia’s army is fighting a low-level conflict against a group of militants holed up in the Chaambi mountains bordering Algeria. Militants occasionally attack security forces from their mountain base.
