Tunis, Mar 27 (IANS): Tunisian security forces have revealed that it had foiled a planned stabbing attack on Interior Minister Taoufik Charfeddine and dismantled the concerned terrorist cell.

The terrorists had prepared to attack the Minister during his visit to the southeast of Tunisia in early January, National Guard spokesman Houcemeddine Jbabli told a press conference in Tunis on Saturday.

"The terrorist cell, which attacked a security patrol in Douz on January 4 in the southeastern province of Kebili, was planning to stab the Minister during his visit to the region," the private radio station Mosaique FM quoted Jbabli as saying.

Investigators found that an element of the fraction was in contact with other terrorists in the eastern coastal provinces of Medenine and Sousse, Xinhua news agency reported.

National Guard spokesman said the security forces have dismantled 148 terrorist cells in the past six months and thwarted a series of their plots on Tunisia soil.