Tunisia thwarts assassination attempt

Tunisian security forces thwart assassination attempt Tunis – Azhar Jarboui Tunisia’s Interior Minister, Lotfi Ben Jeddo, said security forces have thwarted an assassination attempt on Wednesday, against the Chairman of the National Constituent Assembly NCA - Mustapha Ben Jaafar, senior official of the ruling Islamist Ennahda party - Amer Larayedh, Secretary General of the Republican Party Mai al-Jrebi and the Secretary General of the Nidaa Tounes party - Taieb Baccouche, as well as other media and political figures.
In a press statement, Jeddo revealed confessions obtained from militants belonging to the Ansar Al Sharia group, which also linked the fighters to an attack on Mount Chaambi, near the Algerian border last, which killed eight soldiers.
He added that the group was closely affiliated to Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, which operates in the region.
The minister said a military operation on Mount Chaambi captured two wanted members of the group - Ahmed Lambarki and Mohammad Habib Al Omari.
In the press conference, the minister presented recorded conversations between Ansar al-Sharia fighters and unknown Arabs, in which they planned to cut electricity in the capital, which would cause chaos, which the militants would take advantages of.  According to Jeddo, the fighters were targeting 40 police stations in Tunis.
He added that security services had seized a significant amount of live ammunition and weapons, including two warehouses, where they found Kalashnikov rifles, machine guns, rocket launchers and grenades.
Tunisia Director General of the National Security Mustapha Ben Omar said that the investigations revealed an allegiance between the leader of the Ansar al-Sharia movement - Saif Allah bin Hussein with Al Qaeda official Abu Musab Abdul Wadud.
Ben Omar said the military thwarted an assassination attempt in Tunis last week against Secretary General of the Initiative Party Kamel Morjane,  NCA’s deputy Mohamed Krevh and against the political writer and politician Nazeha Rejiba.