Al Qaeda Militants Almost Wiped Out In Tunisia, Interior Minister Says

Security forces had almost wiped out an Islamist militant group linked to al Qaeda during a crackdown launched after two deadly attacks on tourists, Tunisia's interior minister, Najem Gharselli said.

Clashes last week killed leaders, including two veteran Algerian militants, from the Okba Ibn Nafaa brigade, blamed for an assault on the Bardo Museum in Tunis in March, Mr Gharselli told reporters late on Sunday.

The North African country has come under growing international pressure to show it is in control of militants after a gunman also killed 38 holidaymakers at a beach hotel in Sousse last month, an attack claimed by the Islamic State group.

"After we killed some of their leaders in (the central region of) Gafsa a few days ago we have now destroyed 90 percent of Okba Ibn Nafaa," the minister said.

Okba Ibn Nafaa, allied with Al Qaeda's north African wing, was among the most active of hardline groups that emerged after Tunisia's 2011 "Arab Spring" uprising ousted autocrat Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali.

Ties between the groups are often fluid and analysts say younger fighters may be increasingly drawn to Islamic State's gains in Iraq, Syria and neighbouring Libya.

Authorities say more than 3,000 Tunisians have left the country to fight for Islamic State and other militant groups on other battle fields. But the minister said the organisation still had no significant presence in Tunisia.

"There are no Islamic State groups with any structure in Tunisia, but that doesn't mean there are not some members who have allegiances with Islamic State," he said.

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