TUNIS: Hundreds of Tunisians, including police, human rights activists and political party representatives, protested yesterday against “terrorism” after the government said two wanted groups had ties with Al-Qaeda. Several hundred protesters gathered outside the national assembly shouting “Tunisia is free, terrorism out!” and waving placards with slogans including: “We support the security forces and the army in the war against terrorism.”
A delegation of unionists representing the armed forces was received in Parliament, where they demanded that a special compensation fund be set up for members wounded or killed in the line of duty, an AFP journalist reported.
The army intensified its search last week for two groups of rebels hiding in the remote Kef and Mount Chaambi regions along the Algerian border, who the authorities say have Al-Qaeda links and are veterans of the rebellion in northern Mali.
