TUNIS, Tunisia — Tunisian security forces killed a leader of the Islamic State group who was plotting attacks during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, authorities say on Monday.
The interior ministry does not identify the suspect, but says he was a leading member of IS and “dangerous” and was killed in an operation Sunday night by the National Guard near the Algerian border.
Judiciary spokesman Sofiene Sliti tells Shems FM radio the suspect is a Tunisian known as Houssem Tlithi, born in 1997.
The interior ministry says the suspect had been on the run since 2014 and hiding in the Mount Salloum region, a jihadist stronghold.
During Sunday night’s operation, another jihadist was wounded and weapons seized, including a Kalashnikov assault rifle and material used to make explosive belts.
The interior ministry says they were to be used for “terrorist” attacks during Ramadan, a holy month which started Saturday and during which believers abstain from eating and drinking from dawn to dusk.
— AFP
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