Tunisia says it seizes armed group linked to ex-leader

Tunisia says it seizes armed group linked to ex-leader

By Tarek Amara
TUNIS
Thu Feb 10, 2011 5:13pm EST

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(Reuters) - Tunisian authorities said on Thursday they had detained an armed group, linked to ousted president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, which they suspected of involvement in a wave of violence.

While security forces wrestled with persistent unrest, an official for the first time laid out a blueprint for how the country, subject to de facto one-party rule for most of its history, would hold democratic elections.

Weeks of protests forced Ben Ali last month to flee the country in a revolt which inspired uprisings in Egypt and elsewhere in the Arab world, but since then protests and rioting have raised questions about whether stability can be restored.

Security officials in the coalition government put in place after Ben Ali fled to Saudi Arabia have said there is a conspiracy by officials close to the old administration to spread chaos and take back power.

Tunisian security forces assisted by the military arrested the group and seized weapons from them, the official TAP news agency said.

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ENDS

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