Tunisia's official news agency says authorities have arrested 32 extremists and thwarted an ambitious plot to attack civilian and military sites around the country.

The TAP news agency quotes Interior Ministry spokesman Mohamed Ali Laroui as saying some of those arrested had traveled to hotspots abroad, including Syria.

A secular-led coalition government that includes Islamists took office in Tunisia Friday, three months after the North African state's first free parliamentary elections.

Prime Minister Habib Essid and his team took the oath of office in front of President Beji Caid Essebsi before an official handover from interim premier Mehdi Jomaa.

Tunisia's parliament approved Thursday a coalition government led by the secular Nidaa Tounes party and including moderate Islamist rivals Ennahda, following landmark elections in the birthplace of the Arab Spring.

Of 204 lawmakers present, the vote was a comfortable 166-30, with eight abstentions.

Tunisia Monday presented its new coalition government, dominated by the secular Nidaa Tounes party but also including its Islamist rivals, as it prepares to tackle security problems and a faltering economy.

Prime Minister Habib Essid announced the make-up of his cabinet, which had initially been abandoned after the moderate Islamist Ennahda party warned it would vote against a line-up that excluded its members.

Tunisia and DR Congo both advanced to the quarter-finals of the Africa Cup of Nations on Monday after drawing 1-1 in their final Group B game in Bata.

The Tunisians started the day on top of the section and were on their way to securing top spot when Ahmed Akaichi headed home in the 31st minute in Equatorial Guinea's largest city.

Tunisia's prime minister designate is to put his cabinet line-up to parliament Tuesday with the vote expected to be tight for the first government since landmark free elections last year.

Parliament will convene at 10 am (0900 GMT) for the confidence vote, its website said.

Tunisia's Islamist Ennahda party, which holds 69 of parliament's 217 seats, said Sunday it will not vote in favor of a new government that needs approval from the legislature.

New Prime Minister Habib Essid on Friday unveiled a cabinet line-up that included no members of the moderate Islamist party which led the former government.

Tunisian Prime Minister Habib Essid presented a cabinet line-up to parliament on Friday that included no members of the moderate Islamist Ennahda party which led the former government.

Essid's government will be the first since landmark parliamentary and presidential elections last year that were the first freely contested ones in the history of the North African country.

A Tunisian military court sentenced blogger Yassine Ayari to a year in prison Tuesday for defaming the military, in a case that has been criticized by human rights groups.

The 33-year-old was arrested on December 25 on his return from Paris, following an initial three-year sentence handed down the previous month in his absence.

Scores of people paid tribute on Saturday in the Tunisian capital to Yoav Hattab, the son of a Tunis rabbi murdered in last week's jihadist attack on a Paris kosher supermarket.

Gathered outside Tunis's Grand Synagogue, around 150 people carried candles and pictures of Hattab, placing them between two Tunisian flags.