Tunisian security forces say foil stabbing plot against interior minister

TUNIS- -- Tunisian security forces revealed on Saturday that it had foiled a planned stabbing attack on Interior Minister Taoufik Charfeddine and dismantled the concerned terrorist cell.

The terrorists had prepared to attack the minister during his visit to the southeast of Tunisia in early January, National Guard spokesman Houcemeddine Jbabli told a press conference in Tunis.

"The terrorist cell, which attacked a security patrol in Douz on Jan 4 in the southeastern province of Kebili, was planning to stab the minister during his visit to the region," the private radio station Mosaique FM quoted Jbabli as saying.

Investigators found that an element of the fraction was in contact with other terrorists in the eastern coastal provinces of Medenine and Sousse.

Jbabli said the security forces have dismantled 148 terrorist cells in the past six months and thwarted a series of their plots on Tunisia soil.