Tunisian authorities have arrested a woman suspected of planning to abduct the children of police officers and soldiers and carry out terrorist attacks, the Interior Ministry announced.
Authorities said the woman supported extremist religious ideas and as well as the kidnappings and was planning to attack military and security personnel using improvised explosive devices.
“The woman aimed to kidnap children of a number of policemen and soldiers to bargain for the release of [extremist] prisoners implicated in terrorist operations,” the ministry said on its official Facebook page.
It said she planned to carry out a suicide bombing using an explosive belt inside a security facility.
The woman had previously been jailed for terrorism-related convictions, the ministry said.
It did not name the woman or say when she was arrested.
“The operation was carried out jointly by the Anti-Terrorism Department of the National Guard and the Department of Prevention and Combating Terrorism of the Intelligence and Security Agency for National Defence and under the supervision of the Public Prosecution Office,” it said.
Saturday’s announcement comes as the North African country suffers a worsening political crisis after President Kais Saied seized executive power last year.
The case has raised questions about women's active and willing participation in violent extremism.
There is little data on the number of female extremist recruits across the region, but anti-terror experts say the role of women has evolved from assisting men and indoctrinating children to carrying out suicide bombings.
In April 2021, a woman detonated an explosive belt, killing herself and a baby, during a security operation against extremist groups in Kasserine province.
In October 2018, a woman blew herself up in the centre of Tunis, wounding 15 people, including 10 police officers. The attack shattered a period of calm that had held since dozens were killed in ISIS attacks on key tourist locations in the country in 2015.
Sousse was the scene of one of Tunisia's worst attacks in 2015, when 38 people, most of them British tourists, were killed by a gunman.
Several thousand Tunisians travelled overseas to join and fight for extremist groups in Libya, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere between 2011 and 2016, International Crisis Group said in a report.
Since the international coalition destroyed ISIS in Iraq and Syria and Al Qaeda capabilities have degraded, the number of extremist attacks has dropped considerably in Tunisia, which has adopted strict counter-terror measures during the past nine years.
How to increase your savings
- Have a plan for your savings.
- Decide on your emergency fund target and once that's achieved, assign your savings to another financial goal such as saving for a house or investing for retirement.
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- It's important to have a purpose for your savings as it helps to keep you motivated to continue while also reducing the temptation to spend your savings.
- Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching
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Date started: 2014
Founders: Maaz Sheikh, Danny Bates
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment/Streaming Video On Demand
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"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008
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Terror attacks in Paris, November 13, 2015
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Sophie Shams (Dubai Exiles mini, England sevens international)
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Erin King (Dubai Hurricanes mini, Ireland sevens international)
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Favourite book: Peter Rabbit. I used to read it to my three children and still read it myself. If I am feeling down it brings back good memories.
Best thing about your job: Getting to help people. My mum always told me never to pass up an opportunity to do a good deed.
Best part of life in the UAE: The weather. The constant sunshine is amazing and there is always something to do, you have so many options when it comes to how to spend your day.
Favourite holiday destination: Malaysia. I went there for my honeymoon and ended up volunteering to teach local children for a few hours each day. It is such a special place and I plan to retire there one day.
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The language of diplomacy in 1853
Treaty of Peace in Perpetuity Agreed Upon by the Chiefs of the Arabian Coast on Behalf of Themselves, Their Heirs and Successors Under the Mediation of the Resident of the Persian Gulf, 1853
(This treaty gave the region the name “Trucial States”.)
We, whose seals are hereunto affixed, Sheikh Sultan bin Suggar, Chief of Rassool-Kheimah, Sheikh Saeed bin Tahnoon, Chief of Aboo Dhebbee, Sheikh Saeed bin Buyte, Chief of Debay, Sheikh Hamid bin Rashed, Chief of Ejman, Sheikh Abdoola bin Rashed, Chief of Umm-ool-Keiweyn, having experienced for a series of years the benefits and advantages resulting from a maritime truce contracted amongst ourselves under the mediation of the Resident in the Persian Gulf and renewed from time to time up to the present period, and being fully impressed, therefore, with a sense of evil consequence formerly arising, from the prosecution of our feuds at sea, whereby our subjects and dependants were prevented from carrying on the pearl fishery in security, and were exposed to interruption and molestation when passing on their lawful occasions, accordingly, we, as aforesaid have determined, for ourselves, our heirs and successors, to conclude together a lasting and inviolable peace from this time forth in perpetuity.
Taken from Britain and Saudi Arabia, 1925-1939: the Imperial Oasis, by Clive Leatherdale
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