Tunisia’s National Counterterrorism Brigade found a significant arms cache in the border town Ben Guerdane. The arms, believed to have been smuggled in from Libya, were discovered as a result of information from a militant captured a fortnight ago in a Tunis suburb. According to the Tunisian interior ministry, they consisted of thee RPG rocket launchers, 29 Kalashnikovs, 130 other automatic rifles and several thousand rounds of ammunition.
The information came from one of the six militants arrested in a raid on 11 May on a house in the northwestern Tunis suburb of Mnihla being used by what the ministry described as “dangerous terrorists”. Two others were killed, including reportedly one of the leading terrorists sought by the Tunisian authorities, Adel bin Mohammed Elgandari.
The ministry said at the time the militants had gathered to carry out a terrorist attack in the city.
Following the raid, another 21 militants were arrested in various parts of the country.
Ben Guerdane, a centre of the smuggling trade between Libya and Tunisia and a trouble spot for some months, is said to contain a significant number of Islamic State (IS) sympathisers. Smugglers from the town, nicknamed by some as “Tunisia’s Derna” are reported to have collaborated with IS, helping transport Tunisian IS supporters to Libya for training there.
libyaherald.com
