Tunisian media reported on Friday, that terrorist groups have taken advantage of the COVID-19 epidemic, and the lax security in Tunisia to infiltrate its borders with Libya.
The Tunisian newspaper Al-Shorouk stated that this took place as thousands of Tunisians were returning from Libya, through border crossings. It revealed that these terrorists posed as workers in Libya. They then moved between various cities, intending to implement a terrorist plot, targeting the country’s security forces.
Thousands of Tunisians have been repatriated from Libya, since April. They have entered Tunisia in groups, after the borders were closed, and panic spread due to the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak in North Africa.
The newspaper added that security units in the states of Bizerte and Baja, managed to arrest a 40-year-old woman, classified as “dangerous”. She is believed to have recently returned to Libya and was imprisoned in the Special Deterrence Force prison. The newspaper pointed out that this woman was communicating with terrorist leaders inside and outside Tunisia. Another extremist was captured, admitting that he had infiltrated from Libya and belonged to a militia group.
The newspaper also reported, according to security sources, that these extremist elements have contacted groups stationed in the Tunisian mountains, to plan to carry out operations targeting local facilities and security headquarters in the country.
The Libyan civil war, which has been raging since 2011, is making its effects felt in neighbouring countries, particularly in Tunisia. President Kais Saied, decreed an increase in the alert level across the 450-kilometre zone separating the two nations, in April 2019.
