- TUNIS, Tunisia: Tunisia’s state news agency says members of the former political party of ousted President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali have been implicated in violence that has left at least 11 people dead in a southwestern mining region in recent days.
Citing unidentified military and security forces, the TAP agency reports that members of Ben Ali’s now-disbanded RCD party were among 105 people arrested over the violence near the town of Metlaoui.
TAP said Tuesday that police seized firearms, knives and munitions in connection with the arrests over the violence that erupted Friday.
Tunisia, where the so-called Arab Spring began, has been engaged in a halting effort to build democracy after Ben Ali fled to Saudi Arabia in January after 23 years in power.