Islamist head says 'Tunisia model' way to defeat ISIS

Tunisia's transition to democracy serves as an example of how to defeat extremists such as the so called Islamic State jihadist group, the leader of the country's powerful Islamist movement said.

"The success of the Tunisian experience is in the international interest, especially in the fight against extremism and the fight against Islamic State and similar groups," Ennahda head Rached Ghannouchi said in an interview with AFP in the runup to the country's first parliamentary election on Sunday since its 2011 revolution.

"The Tunisian model is the alternative to the Daesh model ... This Tunisian model ... brings together Islam and secularism, Islam and democracy, Islam and freedom for women," he said, using the Arabic acronym for the Islamic State (IS) which has seized swathes of Iraq and Syria.

"One of the best ways to fight terrorism is to advocate moderate Islam because terrorism is based on an extremist interpretation of Islam," said Ghannouchi, whose party has emerged as the leading political force in Tunisia in the aftermath of the revolt which ousted longtime president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.