Tunisian security arrest 'terrorist' in Mount Chaambi

Tunisian security forces in Mount Chaambi Tunisian security forces say they arrested a “dangerous terrorist” while he was trying to escape from Mount Chaambi on Wednesday evening. The Tunisian army launched a counter-terrorist operation in the mountain area, near the Algerian border, after eight soldiers were killed in an ambush at the end of July. The suspect is the fourth to be arrested during the crackdown.
The news comes against a backdrop of continued political tension over the decision to suspend Tunisia’s National Constituent Assembly.
The alleged terrorist, 23-year-old Mohamed Habib al-Omri, was hiding in a house where soldiers also found a stash of Kalashnikov rifles and hand grenades, security forces said on Thursday.
The sources said Omri confessed during interrogation to being involved in the Chaambi ambush, also admitting that were 15 further militants hiding near the TV and Radio broadcasting station in the area.
The suspect’s mobile phone contained footage of the deadly gun attack, the forces said.
Tunisia’s tense security situation is accompanied by a political crisis over parliamentary speaker Mustapha Ben Jaafar’s decision to suspend the National Constituent Assembly (NCA) on Tuesday, following protests over the government’s handling of the assassination of two opposition politicians.
Ben Jaafar’s decision to suspend the NCA until political dialogue can be achieved has come under criticism from the moderate Islamist Ennahda Party, which leads the coalition government, and its coalition partner the Congress for the Republic Party.
In a statement signed by Ennahda chief Rachid al-Ghannouchi, the party defended the NCA as a democratic institution chosen by Tunisians in the October 2011 elections. It called on the assembly to resume its work on finalising the constitution and election law and to agree to hold elections before the end of the year.
Following a meeting with Ben Jaafar, Ghannouchi said national dialogue was the only way to protect national unity, adding that all Tunisians have to take responsibility for achieving unity and upholding the country’s legitimate institutions.
Moncef Marzouki’s Congress for the Republic (CPR) party also opposed the decision to suspend the NCA, saying it was unilateral and counter to the regulations of the assembly, because it wasn’t discussed by parliament.
The party said current events required the continued operation of elected institutions, and that rather than halting its work, the NCA needed to try to neutralise the political conflict and ensure the country was not dragged into violence.
Like Ennahda, CPR expressed support for national dialogue and all serious initiatives aimed at achieving consensus.
While the ruling coalition - made up of Ennahda, CPR, and the social-democratic Ettakatol party - was discussing the suspension of the NCA, the opposition Salvation Front coalition announced it was in talks with political, social, and civil society actors aimed at forming a “national salvation government”, headed by an independent figure.
The Salvation Front renewed its calls to dissolve the NCA, and declared its support for protests within Tunisian institutions that the government considers “civil disobedience”.
Tunisia is in the throes of a crisis that political initiatives have so far failed to resolve. While the government has expressed its support for national dialogue, Ennahda has made its conditions for talks clear, which include the preservation of the NCA and the seat of Prime Minister Ali Laarayedh.
The opposition’s stance is equally inflexible, with the spokesman for the Popular Front party, Hamma Hammami, stating that there would be no place for Ennahda in the new government, and announcing the formation of a parallel “salvation government”.