KERKENNAH, Tunisia (AFP) — The Tunisian navy has recovered four more corpses from a deadly shipwreck of migrants over the weekend, bringing the official number of victims to 52, the interior ministry said Tuesday. “The toll is now at 52 corpses recovered, 48 of which have been identified,” ministry spokesman Khalifa Chibani told AFP. Chibani said the identified bodies belonged to “36 Tunisians and 12 foreigners”, referring to migrants from sub-Saharan Africa. A total of […]
Tag: Tunisia
More than 50 migrants die in Mediterranean crossings
by Ala Sakka with Aymen Jamli in Tunis Agence France Presse More than 50 migrants drowned in the Mediterranean on Sunday, the majority off the coasts of Tunisia and Turkey, while Italy marked a sea change in its policy. Tunisian authorities said 48 bodies were recovered off the country’s southern coast, close to the city of Sfax, while 68 people were rescued. “The boat had a maximum capacity of 75 to 90 people, but […]
Tunisian government announces social reforms after week of unrest
by Kaouther Larbi Agence France-Presse TUNIS, Tunisia (AFP) – Tunisia’s government on Saturday announced an increase in aid to the needy and improved health care as part of social reforms following a week of unrest triggered by austerity measures. Social Affairs Minister Mohamed Trabelsi told reporters that monthly aid to needy families would rise from 150 dinars (50 euros) to between 180 and 210 dinars (60 and 70 euros). He said reforms which have been in […]
Third night of unrest in Tunisia as hundreds arrested
by Caroline Nelly Perrot with Kaouther Larbi in Tebourba Agence France Presse TUNIS, Tunisia (AFP) — A third night of unrest has shaken Tunisia where authorities said Thursday more than 600 people have been arrested this week as anger at austerity measures boils over on the streets. Tunisia is considered a rare success story of the Arab Spring uprisings that began in the North African country in 2011 and spread across the region, toppling autocrats. […]
200 arrested, dozens hurt in Tunisia unrest
by Caroline Nelly Perrot and Kaouther Larbi Agence France-Presse TUNIS, Tunisia (AFP) — More than 200 people have been arrested and dozens of police hurt during clashes in Tunisia, the interior ministry said Wednesday, as anger over austerity measures spilt over into unrest. The North African country has been hailed for its relatively smooth democratic transition since a 2011 revolt that sparked the Arab Spring uprisings, but seven years after the revolution tensions over economic […]
Tsunami-sunk’ Roman ruins discovered in Tunisia
NABEUL, Tunisia (AFP) — Vast underwater Roman ruins have been discovered off northeast Tunisia, apparently confirming a theory that the city of Neapolis was partly submerged by a tsunami in the 4th century AD. “It’s a major discovery,” Mounir Fantar, the head of a Tunisian-Italian archaeological mission which made the find off the coast of Nabeul, told AFP. He said an underwater expedition had found streets, monuments and around 100 tanks used to produce garum, […]
Manhunt for Berlin suspect intensifies as anger grows
by Deborah Cole with Michelle Fitpatrick Agence France Presse BERLIN, Germany (AFP) — German authorities were under fire Thursday after it emerged that the prime suspect in Berlin’s deadly truck attack, a rejected Tunisian asylum seeker, was known as a potentially dangerous jihadist. German prosecutors have issued a Europe-wide wanted notice for 24-year-old Anis Amri, offering a 100,000-euro ($104,000) reward for information leading to his arrest and warning he “could be violent and armed”. Asylum […]
Anis Amri: Tunisian suspect in Berlin truck attack
by Frank ZELLER with Kaouther LARBI in Tunisia Agence France Presse BERLIN, Germany (AFP) — The Tunisian suspect in the Berlin truck attack, 24-year-old Anis Amri, was long watched as a potentially dangerous jihadist but managed to avoid both arrest and deportation from Germany. Two days after the Holiday market rampage killed 12 people, Amri was named in European arrest warrants that offered a 100,000-euro ($104,000) reward for information and warned he could be “violent […]
Attacker staked out Nice site, accomplice suspected
by Céline AGNIEL with Pauline TALAGRAND in Paris NICE, France (AFP) — The Nice truck attacker staked out the seafront for two days before striking, it emerged Sunday as investigators pieced together details of the Islamic State-claimed massacre and questioned possible accomplices. A source close to the investigation told AFP that Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel, a 31-year-old Tunisian, sent a text message just before the attack in which he “expresses satisfaction at having obtained a 7.65-millimetre pistol […]
Tunisian police clash with unemployment protesters in Kasserine
Jobless protesters clashed with police on Wednesday (January 20) in the central Tunisian city of Kasserine as anger over rising unemployment in the North African country triggered demonstrations in the capital Tunis and several other cities. At least one policeman was killed in Feriana after he was attacked by protesters, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry said. Large crowds burned tyres and chanted: “Work, freedom, dignity” during a second day of demonstrations that erupted in […]
Tunisia police, protesters clash in several towns over jobs
Tunisian police firing tear gas clashed with hundreds of protesters in at least four separate towns on Tuesday (January 19) after demonstrations broke out to demand employment just days after a young jobless man committed suicide. The protests erupted in Kasserine, where the young man killed himself, apparently over the lack of job opportunities, residents said, and later spread to three other towns or cities in the country’s impoverished central, southern region. Tunisia’s “Arab Spring” […]
Islamic State claims responsibility for Tunisia attack – statement
Islamic State claimed responsibility on Wednesday (November 25) for an attack on a Tunisian presidential guard bus, an official statement from the group said. The group released a still photograph of a man said to be Abu Abdullah Al Tunisi they described as the one strapped with the bomb on the bus. “Abu Abdullah Al Tunisi, wearing his explosive belt, who was on the presidential guard bus in Tunis,” the caption on the photograph read. […]





