A fierce gun battle broke out Sunday, between Tunisian special forces and members of security forces loyal to deposed President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, a military official said.
The clashes near the presidential palace in the seaside suburb of Carthage came hours after Ben Ali’s security chief, General Ali Seriati, was arrested along with several colleagues over accusations of plotting attacks against the country’s new interim leadership.
Seriati, a key figure in the security apparatus put in place by the authoritarian Ben Ali, is accused of plotting against the government and fomenting armed attacks, according to Tunisia’s state media. The weekend was punctuated by incidents of violence, including looting and arson, after Ben Ali, who ruled Tunisia with an iron fist for 23 years, fled to Saudi Arabia late Friday. There were several reports of roaming gunmen firing randomly at buildings in and around the city. Earlier, Tunisian state television reported two other gun battles had broken a relative calm enforced by the army in the country’s capital of Tunis, one near the central bank building and another outside an opposition party’s headquarters. A Paris-based photojournalist, Lucas Mebrouk Dolega, who works for EPA photo agency, was in critical condition Sunday after being hit Friday in the face by a tear gas canister, according to a French consular official in Tunisia.