Tight security for ´defining´ Tunisia vote

TUNIS: Tunisians vote Sunday in an election seen as pivotal to establishing democracy in the cradle of the Arab Spring uprisings, with security forces deploying heavily to avert extremist attacks.

The North African nation has been hailed as a beacon of hope compared with other chaos-hit countries like Libya and Egypt where regimes were also toppled.

But its transition has been tested at times by militant attacks and social unrest.
On the eve of the polls, Prime Minister Mehdi Jomaa warned of possible jihadist attacks aimed at disrupting the country´s first-post revolution parliamentary elections.

"We know that this will be a target (for jihadist groups) because it is unique in the region.

It brings hope," Jomaa told AFP during an inspection of security forces east of Tunis.
"They know that the success of (this election) is a threat to them, not only in Tunisia but throughout the region."

On Friday, Tunisian police killed six suspected militants -- five of whom were women -- in a raid on a house in the outskirts of the capital.

A policeman was also killed in an earlier firefight with the suspects.Up to 80,000 army troops and police are being deployed in a bid to protect voters as they head to the polls.