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Tunisian special security forces stand guard in Tunis on February 8, 2013/AFP

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Tunisia ‘terror’ suspect killed, murder plot foiled

Later Sunday, Interior Minister Lofti Ben Jeddou said that the security forces had arrested Ezzedine Abdelaoui, who is suspected of involvement in Belaid’s murder, during the raid.

Overnight, the ministry said police had foiled a new bid to assassinate a political figure and that two “very dangerous terrorists” had been arrested and guns and grenades seized.

The ministry did not identify the target of the plot but said it had taken place in Sousse, 140 kilometres (90 miles) south of Tunis, on Friday.

Police traded fire with gunmen after searching a house in the area, and a third suspect fled, it added.

During this raid, a suspect in Brahmi’s murder, Lofti Ezzine, was apprehended, Jeddou said.

The minister also detailed other security operations, including the arrest of a man suspected of planning a suicide bombing and the apprehension of three “religious extremists” preparing an attack on a bank.

In addition, two arms traffickers were held on the Libyan border in possession of Kalashnikov rifles, rockets and detonators, said Jeddou.

Calls for national unity

The security operations came as Tunisia’s moderate Islamist Ennahda party was battling to defend its position as the head of a governing coalition after winning an October 2011 election.

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Government critics have accused Ennahda of failing to rein in rampant violence blamed on radical Islamists since the 2011 uprising that ousted veteran president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.

Late on Saturday, tens of thousands of Ennahda backers turned out for a rally in Tunis called by the party to voice their support for the embattled government.

The protest, in which Ennahda said 200,000 people took part, was by far the largest in support of the government since the murders of Brahmi and Belaid.

Elsewhere in Tunis, several thousand opposition demonstrators gathered outside the parliament building for what has become a nightly protest, witnesses said.

A coalition of opposition parties has called for a massive rally on Tuesday to demand the departure of the government and the dissolution of the national assembly.

Larayedh, who has already proposed a broader coalition and general elections for December, on Saturday reiterated that his government would not step down, and told a news conference Tunisia needs “national unity”.

But dozens of deputies have boycotted the assembly since Brahmi’s murder, further delaying the drawing up of a new post revolution constitution.

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