Iman Chairman expresses concerns over Islamist movement in Tunisia
Martes, 4 Febrero 2014
Seven militants, policeman killed in Tunisia raid
REUTERS
Seven Islamist militants and a Tunisian policeman were killed in a gun battle after police raided a house in Tunis where weapons, explosives and suicide bomb belts were found, a security source said.
The clash broke out late on Monday when police surrounded a house in Raoued, a northern suburb of the capital, in an attempt to arrest a group of suspected militants hiding there.
"They had suicide bomb belts and explosive material and they were well-armed," Interior Ministry spokesman Mohamed Ali Aroui said, without naming the group to which the men belonged.
Raoued is a poor district close to luxury beach resorts just outside the capital. Heavily armed counter-terrorism police patrolled near the whitewashed house where the fighting took place, its outer wall pockmarked with dozens of bullet holes.
Since last year, Tunisian armed forces have cracked down on the hardline Islamist Ansar al-Sharia faction, which Washington has listed as a terrorist organisation and whose leader has declared allegiance to al Qaeda.
Tunisia formally celebrates a new constitution on Friday, with French President Francois Hollande and other dignitaries invited to the ceremony to mark the North African country's progress to democracy.
Three years after its uprising inspired revolts across the Arab world, Tunisia is led by a new caretaker government that took over after the moderate Islamist Ennahda party stepped down in a compromise to end a political crisis.
The threat of Islamist militancy is among the new government's main challenges. A suicide bombing at a beach resort late last year - the first such attack in a decade - underscored Tunisia's vulnerability to jihadi violence.
Tunisian militants have used the turmoil in neighbouring Libya to get weapons and training. Some have travelled to Syria to fight for Islamist rebel groups in the civil war there.
Commenting on the reports, Chairman if the Iman Foundation, Ribal Al-Assad said:
"I am very concerned about the recent reports of a resurgence of the Islamist movement in Tunisia, three years ago the people of Tunisia overthrew an oppressive, totalitarian regime in the hope of a brighter, fairer and more democratic future.
We must not allow this to be hijacked by extremist Islamists who stand against a democratic, free, liberal and progressive society, which Tunisia has clearly embraced in its new constitution.
This constitution talks of pluralism, independence of the judiciary and gender equality; ideals that the Islamists are want to abolish. Their only goal is to establish an Islamic caliphate state under Sharia Law.
There is no place for extremism anywhere in todays world and I urge the international community to support the Tunisian caretaker government in tackling terrorism - Tunisia has a bright future ahead and there is absolutely no place for extremism in it."
