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Tunisia denies providing base for US drones

By our correspondents
October 28, 2016

TUNIS: Tunisia on Thursday denied a US news report it has allowed Washington to operate unmanned planes from its territory for missions in neighbouring Libya against the Islamic State group.

"As part of Tunisian-US bilateral cooperation, we have acquired drones to train our military personnel to use this technology and to control out southeastern border with Libya and detect any suspicious movement" there, a defence ministry spokesman said.

The Washington Post on Wednesday reported that the Pentagon had "secretly expanded its global network of drone bases to North Africa, deploying unmanned aircraft and US military personnel to a facility in Tunisia to conduct spy missions in neighbouring Libya".