Ennahar- an Algerian newspaper indicated that the Tunisian army has carried out a large combing operation and a general survey concerning the border areas adjacent to the two Algerian states Elwadi and Tbessa searching for armed persons suspected of an infiltration of the Tunisian territory.
According to this newspaper, the combing operation involves military vehicles and thousands of soldiers patrolling the border areas, especially through tracks usually taken by armed persons to infiltrate Tunisia. Ennahar supposed that these suspects had no longer a sufficient ability to carry out any operation in Algeria, so they resorted to Tunisia to carry out some kidnapping operations; as occurred in the last year when they abducted two Austrian tourists in Tunisian territory searching for funding sources. Therefore, Algerian tourists residing Gabes (south east Tunisia) were subjected to security measures by the Tunisian police last week.