Tunisia (Union)
The Tunisian Ministry of Interior announced yesterday that security forces and the army arrested five terrorists convicted of killing politicians and a policeman years ago, after they escaped from a prison last week.
The Ministry of Interior said, in a statement, that “the forces arrested 4 of them in a mountain near Bouqernine, near the capital, at dawn on Tuesday, while they arrested the fifth two days ago in the Tadamon neighborhood in Tunis, with the help of residents.”
After their escape, which was seen as a rare security breach, the government dismissed senior intelligence officials. Security sources said that the five fugitives were “very dangerous terrorists.”
Among them is Ahmed al-Maliki, known as “The Somali,” who was serving a 24-year prison sentence for the assassination of politicians Chokri Belaid and Mohamed Brahmi in 2013.
Tunisia has witnessed attacks launched by terrorist groups since 2011, which led to the killing of dozens of policemen, foreign tourists, and others. In the past few years, the authorities have been able to arrest or kill a number of the most prominent leaders of these groups. Security sources say that small numbers of ISIS and Al-Qaeda members are still active in the mountains near the country’s western border.
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