Tunisia dismantles an alleged jihadist cell that was preparing to attack

Special counter-terrorism units in Tunisia dismantled an alleged jihadist cell that was reportedly preparing to attack in the country, the North African Interior Ministry reported. 

According to the source, the group consisted of five men of radical Islamic Takfiri ideology and was targeting barracks and security facilities.

Some of the cell's members contacted jihadist groups in the Kasserine mountains (on the border with Algeria) to try to obtain explosives, he explained.

This is the second alleged TakfirI cell that the Tunisian authorities have announced they have dismantled since last April.

Weeks later, the Ministry of the Interior also announced the arrest of an alleged high-level member of the jihadist organization Daesh in Tunisia.​​​​​​​

The North African country is one of the Arab states most affected by radical Islamic terrorism and the fourth in number of fighters who have enlisted Daesh, after Saudi Arabia, Russia and Jordan, according to figures from the international analysis laboratory Soufian Group.

In 2015, Tunisia suffered a chain of three attacks attributed to this jihadist network that took the lives of 72 people, 60 of them foreign tourists.

On 6 March, two men whose identity is unknown attacked the United States Embassy in the Tunisian capital.