'1,000 terrorists returned to Tunisia in 7 years'

By Adil Essabiti, Hacer Baser

TUNIS, Tunisia

Tunisia's Center for Global Security Studies said Monday that 1,000 "terrorists" had returned to the country from conflict zones from 2011 to October 2018.

Mokhtar Ben Nasr, head of the center’s executive committee, told reporters that Tunisian authorities had prevented 17,000 people from leaving the country for conflict zones such as Syria, Iraq Libya.

He said the total number of Tunisians in the conflict zones was 3,000, adding many of them had died and some of them had fled to various regions to find safe havens.

Many terrorists had returned to the country in secret ways, he noted.

Nasr stressed that the number of terrorists in the mountains of Tunisia had been greatly reduced.

Two weeks ago, a terrorist group of four had returned to the country upon the request of Tunisian authorities, Nasr said, adding members of the group are currently going through the judicial process.

The discussion was raised after U.S. President Donald Trump urged European states late Saturday to "take back" hundreds of foreign Daesh terrorists captured in Syria and prosecute them.

"The United States is asking Britain, France, Germany other European allies to take back over 800 ISIS fighters that we captured in Syria and put them on trial," Trump said on Twitter, using another name for Daesh.

"The Caliphate is ready to fall. The alternative is not a good one in that we will be forced to release them," he warned, referring to Daesh terrorists.