Results tagged “Tunisia”
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Magharebia: 'Tunisian salafist[s] announce al-Qaeda support'
Mohamed Anis Chaieb, head of the Salafi jihadist movement in Tunisia, announced the group's allegiance to al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. Another Tunisian Salafi jihadist, Ansar al Sharia leader Saif Allah bin Hussein (a.k.a. Abou Iyadh), is currently being investigated by security services.
The National Constituent Assembly approved the government of Prime Minister Larayedh. He vowed that the new government would "act with great firmness" against those who would try to impose their ideology on others through hate or violence.
Tunisian 'martyrs' celebrated by Ansar al Sharia
The head of Ansar al Sharia Tunisia has said that foreign jihads have "emptied Tunisia of its young," but his group's Facebook page openly celebrates the "martyrdom" of Tunisians killed while fighting in Syria.Insight: Islamist inroads in Mali may undo French war on al Qaeda
Maghreb youth answer al-Qaeda call
The secular opposition party of slain leader Chokri Belaid plans to ask the UN Human Rights Council to investigate the assassination; the party lacks confidence in the Tunisian authorities' handling of the case. Hundreds of people protested in Tunis on March 9 demanding the fall of the Islamist Ennahda government.
Prime Minister Larayedh announced the formation of a new coalition government led by the Islamist Ennahda party, which will serve until elections by the end of the year. Rachid Sabbagh was named defense minister; his predecessor, Abdelkarim Zbidi, had been trying to resign since the September 2012 attack on the US Embassy in Tunis.
The resigning defense minister warned that the army is strained from constant deployment since the revolution but it needs to focus on the threat from radical Islamist militants near the Algerian and Libyan borders. The number of Tunisians fighting with Syrian rebels may be as high as 1,500. President Marzouki said Salafist hardliners should be fought but only "within the bounds of the law."
A Tunisian rights group warned that extremists, as well as Gulf and Levant sheiks, are luring young women and men from Tunisia into jihad in Syria. The Al Nusrah Front is accused of abducting a Tunisian girl. In Tunis, Salafists and students clashed, and students distributing leaflets about International Women's Day were attacked with clubs and bars. Security forces arrested three Salafists after finding weapons and Molotov cocktails in a Bizerte mosque.
The Tunisian media watchdog group Center for Press Freedom said attacks on journalists in Tunisia surged to over 50 in February, more than twice the number for January. On Feb. 28, Salafists threatened to kill a reporter in Sidi Bouzid; the Center called it "an unprecedented threat against a journalist outside the Capital."
'Harlem Shake' pits students against Salafists
The government extended the state of emergency that has existed since the Tunisian revolution. Hundreds of Salafists in Sidi Bouzid demanded the release of a cleric arrested for links to a gunbattle between Salafists and police; the protesters chanted anti-Semitic slogans, including: "Oh Jews! The army of Mohammed will return."
The ruling Ennahda party agreed to allow independents to fill four key cabinet posts. Salafists in Tunis tried to stop "Harlem Shake" demonstrations. Police and army units were deployed in Sidi Bouzid to fend off Salafists who attacked a police station. Police arrested suspects linked to a Feb. 21 gunfight between Salafists and National Guard forces.
The Interior Minister announced that the suspected killer of opposition leader Chokri Belaid is on the run but authorities have arrested four accomplices. Police said the suspects are Salafists, and that one of them was active in the League for the Protection of the Revolution. New Prime Minister Larayedh has been asked to form a new government by March 8.
Ansar al Sharia Tunisia launches new website
After having its official Facebook page repeatedly deleted, Ansar al Sharia Tunisia has launched its own website.Police arrested a Salafist suspected of killing opposition leader Chokri Belaid. The Ministry of Education threatened to expel those involved in a YouTube video in which some students wore false beards and tunics to mock Salafists. A mass "Harlem Shake" demonstration is planned for this Friday outside the Ministry to protest Salafist "disrupt[ions] to the educational process."
Armed Salafists shot at National Guard troopers at a checkpoint in Sidi Bouzid, then fled to a mosque and continued shooting; one Salafist was killed in the gunbattle and two policemen were injured. Security forces clashed with armed groups in Hasi El Frid in Kasserine province, and arrested 13 suspects after finding a weapons cache in El M'nihla in Airana province. Thousands of Tunisians protested against the nomination of Ali Larayedh as new Prime Minister.
Jihad mafia kills Tunisian youths
The ruling Islamist Ennahda party named hardliner Ali Lareyedh, an interior minister, to replace resigning Prime Minister Jebali. The names of a number of prominent Tunisian journalists and politicians are appearing on published Salafist hit lists.
