CAPE TOWN - The North African countries of Algeria and Tunisia have agreed to co-ordinate their efforts as they seek to clamp down on terrorism and organised crime, reduce smuggling and combat illegal immigration.
According to a report by Chinese-run state news agency Xinhua, Tunisian Defence Minister Ibrahim Bartagi made the remarks during a visit to the 16th Infantry Regiment in the city of Ain Draham in Jendouba province, north-western Tunisia.
Last month, addressing the UN Security Council high-level open debate, Salma Neifer, acting foreign minister of Tunisia, said terrorism and organised crime threatened international security and peace.
Earlier this month, one police officer was killed and another wounded in a knife attack in the Tunisian coastal resort city of Sousse.
According to a BBC report, three assailants were shot dead after the incident, which was described as a terrorist attack.
Head of the Tunisian Human Rights League (LTDH) Jamel Messalem said the attack coincided with the new government assuming its duties, citing that the new interior minister was in the city, which affirmed that the attack was planned, reported Arabic international newspaper Asharq al-Awsat.
Messalem further pointed out that the terrorists took advantage of the political tension in the country and the pro-extremism rhetoric to plan the attack and to confuse the new government.
In 2015, Sousse was the scene of one of Tunisia's worst attacks in which 38 people, most of them British tourists, were killed by a gunman.
Tunisia’s defence minister said the country aimed to co-ordinate its efforts with Algeria by exchanging information and holding periodic meetings on tightening control of the Tunisian-Algerian land borders, reports Xinhua.