Arms caches discovered in Tunisia on border with Libya

Four arms caches have been seized by Tunisian authorities near the border with Libya, it was announced yesterday.

Two caches were found on Saturday near the city of Ben Guerdane, and the rest discovered on Sunday and yesterday. The caches included large quantities of weapons and ammunition.

The reserve discovered yesterday in a garage had around 50 guns including 27 Kalashnikov assault rifles and dozens of missiles which were all confiscated.

Thirty crates of ammunition and 12 kilogrammes of explosives were also seized in the raid.

A defence ministry official told Shems FM that the arms caches were discovered due to information attained from a mobile of a terrorist shot dead by security forces last week.

In a statement released by the ministry, four suspects were detained for questioning.

Since ousting dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, Tunisia has seen an increase in extremism particularly from Daesh militants entering the country from war-torn Libya.

According to official figures in March, dozens of extremists attacked security installations on the border with Libya leaving 13 members of the security forces, seven civilians and at least 55 militants dead.