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Tunisia ‘terror’ standoff: five women and a man killed in Tunis suburb Tunisia ‘terror’ standoff: five women and a man killed in Tunis suburb
(about 1 hour later)
Five women and a man have been killed after Tunisian authorities stormed the home of suspected militants following a 24-hour standoff. Tunisian authorities stormed the home of suspected militants to end a 24-hour standoff on Friday, leaving five women and one man dead in a suburb of the capital Tunis.
One child was wounded as well as a member of security forces in the assault on Friday morning, according to state media reports. Police officers responding to a tipoff had surrounded the home in Oued Ellil on Thursday and were shot at by the inhabitants. One policeman was killed.
The interior minister, Mohammed Ali Aroui, described the dead as terrorists. One gunman was killed and another captured during the raid on Friday morning and one child and a security forces member were wounded, the state news agency said.
Police officers, responding to a tipoff, surrounded the property in the Oued Ellil suburb, west of Tunis, on Thursday morning. One officer was killed and another wounded in a shootout with the inhabitants. Interior ministry spokesman Mohammed Ali Aroui described all the dead as “terrorists”.
Electricity and gas to the home were cut and after negotiations to evacuate the women and children failed, security forces stormed in. Negotiations to evacuate the women and children, who Aroui said were apparently family members of the gunmen, were unsuccessful.
Tunisia is preparing for key parliamentary elections on Sunday. The government had warned that terrorists might seek to disrupt them. In another clash on Thursday, police arrested two men armed with assault rifles in the southern city of Kebili in a dispute that killed a bystander, officials said. Aroui said the men were planning a terrorist attack but did not elaborate further.
Tunisia is holding key a parliamentary election on Sunday, hoping to complete its democratic transition after the 2011 overthrow of longtime dictator Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali. There have been warnings by the government that terrorists would seek to disrupt the vote.
In recent weeks, Tunisian security forces have conducted a string of operations aimed at dismantling extremist cells.