title: refugee death toll in mediterranean hits record high in  un agency
text: north africa tunisian defense minister farhat horchani c attends the unveiling of an antimilitant fence in eastern tunisia close to the border with libya on february   photo by ap 
  military officials in tunisia have rejected claims that the country is hosting a base for us drone operations against the daesh takfiri terrorist group in neighboring libya 
  tunisias defense minister farhat horchani on thursday ruled out any possibility that foreign forces could have direct access to tunisian military bases or run their own in the country 
  we dont  and wont  have a foreign military base in tunisia horchani said adding we were one of the few first countries to oppose a foreign military intervention in libya 
  a tunisian defense ministry spokesman also said on thursday that the north african country has never allowed washington to operate unmanned planes from its territory for antidaesh missions 
  tunisian soil has never been and never will be used to strike targets in libya the drones are used by tunisians and no one else belhassen oueslati said adding as part of tunisianus bilateral cooperation we have acquired drones to train our military personnel to use this technology and to control our southeastern border with libya and detect any suspicious movement 
  the remarks came after us media claimed that washington has expanded its deployment of drones to north africa as part of a secret program 
  a report by the washington post said on wednesday that unmanned aircraft and us military personnel had been deployed to a facility in tunisia to conduct spy missions in neighboring libya the paper added that drones began flying out of the tunisian base in late june claiming that the dispatch of the planes was a key element of the extended us air offensive against a daesh stronghold in libya 
  daesh which is known for its terror acts in iraq and syria has been operating mostly in northern libya a country which slipped into chaos in  following the ouster of longtime dictator muammar gaddafi 
  forces loyal to libyas unity government which enjoy the support of the west and the united nations have been battling daesh militants over the past six months in the coastal city of sirte 
  us africa command africom said on thursday that since august  pentagon has carried out  airstrikes in libya to help libyan forces in the fight in sirte 
  there are us service members working with the tunisian security forces for counterterrorism and they are sharing intelligence from various sources to include unarmed aerial platforms said colonel mark r cheadle spokesman for us africa command 
  tunisia which is frequented by western tourists has suffered several major attacks by the daesh terrorist group 
  last year a total of  foreign tourists were killed in two such assaults by daesh on the national bardo museum in tunis and a beach resort loading