Tunis - Mongi Saidani

The Tunisian Interior Ministry has said that a number of deadly terror attacks that involve stabbing, poisoning, remote-detonated bombings had been recently thwarted.

Four terror rings and 12 suspected terrorists have been arrested, the statement said Friday.

A bomb-making chemical laboratory was also raided by the country’s security forces. In the raid, combustion agents and chemicals were seized in addition to a drone used for remote detonation.

Meanwhile, a terrorist shooting targeted a security patrol in Kasserine, a city located at the heart of eastern Tunisia. Despite no security personnel being killed, a stray bullet hit a bystander who now is reported to be in a stable condition at a local hospital.

Terrorists responsible for the shooting are being pursued by security units.

Armed terror rings, since 2011, have established barricaded strongholds in the mountainous area near Kasserine from which they frequently raid and plunder surrounding villages and attack security patrols.

These developments follow a devastating suicide attack staged by Mona Qibla in the center of the Tunisian capital on October 29, which resulted in the injury of 15 security personnel and 5 civilians.

The powerful explosion detonated by the 30-year-old female bomber, targeted a group of police officers on Habib Bourguiba Avenue.

Interior Ministry counterterrorism probing teams said Qibla was radicalized and recruited by the terror group ISIS.

She used a fake account on social media platforms to contact ISIS leaders, Ministry investigations revealed, while pointing out that her viewing history was loaded with online bomb-making guides.

Sporadic violence has continued in Tunisia since 2015, but most of the incidents have taken place in an area close to the Algerian and Libyan borders, where militants have launched attacks on security forces.

National research centers have confirmed that at least 300 terrorist cells remain active and are chiefly responsible for emerging lone wolf attacks and ongoing recruitment and radicalization of youth.