Tunisia : National Guard Officer killed in armed clash at Kasserine

According to sources a group of four armed men may have infiltrated Tunisia from accross the Algerian border.   The Interior Ministry announced, in a communiqué the death of National Guard Warrant Officer Anis Jelassi, hit by a bullet fired by the gunmen during a combing operation led by the National Guard, the Army and the Department of Forests of Jebel Snak-Tam Smida, in the delegation of Feriana, 10 Km from the Tunisian-Algerian border, adds the same communique. A number of other National Guard officers were also injured.reinforcements were sent tothe area but none of the gunmen have so far been apprehended.

Helicopters backed up the security forces and the shoot out came two days after  police said they arrested two Islamists from Jendouba in a car packed with maps and explosive materials, about 30km (19 miles) away along the same border,Reuters reported.

Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki expressed concern at arms trafficking in North Africa in an interview with The World Today, edited by London-based think tank Chatham House,noting that some of these arms had reached islamists in Tunisia and Algeria.