"The arrested are takfiris directly tied to the Okba Ibn Nafaa Brigade. Some of them returned from conflict zones, including Syria," the Interior Ministry spokesman, Mohamed Ali Laroui, told reporters.
He added that the Tunisian security service will continue to conduct operations around Tunisia, including its mountainous regions, and that the country has sufficient resources to stand up to the terrorist threat.
Meanwhile, Tunisian security forces are shelling areas of the country's Kasserine mountains in a campaign against Islamist fighters in the area.
The arrests come a day after the secular-Islamist coalition government led by newly elected Prime Minister Habib Essid took office, following the country’s first free parliamentary and presidential elections late last year, marking a transition to democracy.
Since the 2011 Arab Spring, which led to the ouster of ex-president Ben Ali, the country has became one of the largest sources of Islamist fighters traveling to Syria, including those who join the Islamic State (ISIL) militant group.
