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Tunis – At least 8 000 homes have been searched and over 1 000 people detained in anti-terror sweeps since March's deadly attack on Tunisia's Bardo National Museum, a government minister revealed on Tuesday.
At least 120 of those detained were being held on suspicion of terrorist activity, Kamel Jendoubi, minister for relations with civil society, told journalists. He did not indicate whether the remaining detainees had been released.
The attack on the Bardo Museum, claimed by the Islamic State extremist group, killed 21 foreign tourists and a policeman.
On June 26 a gunman killed 38 foreign tourists at a beach resort in Sousse, prompting President Beji Caid Essibsi to declare a state of emergency on Saturday.
That attack too was claimed by Islamic State, as was a suicide bombing the same day that killed 27 worshippers at a Shiite mosque in Kuwait.
Tunisia is widely seen as the sole success story of the wave of popular uprisings that swept across the Arab region in 2011.
The tourism industry is one of the key employers in Tunisia, which has witnessed a rise in militant attacks since the 2011 overthrow of dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
