Terror In Tunisia: Israel Warns Citizens Against Travel

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office has warned Israeli citizens in Tunisia could be a target of a terrorist attack. The notice advises Israelis to avoid traveling to Tunisia next weekend.

The advisory was first reported by Haaretz newspaper.

The advisory comes amid heightened tension between Israel and Tunisia, and less than two months after terrorists killed 21 people and injured dozens more during at attack at the Bardo National Museum in Tunis.

Israel's Counterterrorism Bureau cited “updated information” on possible terrorist activity as the reason for the notice. “The recommendation is to avoid visiting Tunisia,” the warning said, as quoted by the Jerusalem Post.

Tunisian and Israeli Jews are preparing to commemorate Lag BaOmer Thursday, a holiday celebratedon the 33rd day of the Counting of the Omer.

The Counterterrorism Bureau advised that international extremist groups aim to launch attacks against Jewish and Israeli citizens throughout northern Africa as well as western Europe. The series of 2014 terrorist attacks in France, Denmark, Belgium, Australia and elsewhere “raise concerns over additional attacks against Western targets, including Jewish and Israeli targets,” the notice said Saturday. Previous counterterrorism reports specifically warn al Qaeda's presence in North Africa is of particular concern.

Radical Islamist groups have sought to make themselves a presence in Tunisia, with the Counter-Terrorism warning that many of the jihadists who fought in Syria and Iraq returning to Tunisia. Last month also marked the discovery of a large arms cache -- including grenades, explosive belts and Kalashnikov rifles -- hidden in Sidi Bouzid, a town in central Tunisia. Soldiers who discovered the weapons suggested they may have been put into place by members of the Islamic State terror group.