Tunisian Salafis on the Rise
Mischa Benoit-Lavelle reports from Tunis on the rise of Salafis in Tunisia and the possibility of the country becoming a terrorist training ground.
TUNIS – As information trickled out about the hostage taking at Algeria's In Amenas gas field, one fact in particular stood out for Tunisians: Among the 30-odd militants laying siege to the facility, 11 were their countrymen.
It was the latest indication that Tunisia has become a major source of jihadi combatants. In May 2012, Syria's envoys to the United Nations said that they had captured 26 fighters with “al-Qaeda sympathies,” 19 of whom were from Tunisia. While there are obvious reason to doubt information coming from Bashar al-Assad's regime, numerous Tunisians can testify to friends and family members having left to join the conflict.
The Tunisian Interior Ministry has indicated that cells of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb have been active in the country, recruiting and training volunteers and shuttling arms to other strongholds.
The same day the Signatories in Blood struck at In Amenas, Tunisian security forces were busy in the southern governorate of Medenine taking possession of a huge stockpile of arms that included RPGs and surface-to-air missiles.
