⁍ Tunisians made up one of the largest contingents of foreign fighters for Islamic State.
⁍ Police in the North African state have grown far better at disrupting plots.
⁍ However, a steady series of smaller attacks has shown that the threat remains.
– The man who beheaded an elderly woman and killed two others in a church in Nice, France, on Thursday is believed to be a 21-year-old Tunisian who recently entered the country via Italy, Reuters reports. A French police source tells Reuters the man is believed to be a Tunisian who recently entered France via Italy. Tunisia’s Foreign Ministry condemned the attack and a branch of the judiciary said it has opened an investigation into the suspect. Five years after militant Islamists killed scores of tourists in two mass shootings in Tunisia, police in the North African state have grown far better at disrupting plots and responding quickly when attacks take place, diplomats say. However, a steady series of smaller attacks has shown that the threat remains. Tunisians made up one of the largest contingents of foreign fighters for ISIS, and though many died in wars in Syria and Iraq, some returned home and were imprisoned. An al-Qaeda group is meanwhile entrenched in a hilly, inaccessible part of the border region between Tunisia and Algeria but has proven unable to stage attacks beyond that area. The last major attack in Nice was also carried out by a Tunisian man who had emigrated to France in 2005 before driving a truck into a Bastille Day crowd in 2016, killing 86 people.
Source: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-france-security-nice-tunisia/nice-attack-points-to-continued-tunisian-struggle-with-jihadists-idUSKBN27E33Z