“The IS [Daesh] terror is threatening all of North Africa,” German Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen told the newspaper.

She said it was thus crucial “to make every effort to support countries struggling with democracy such as Tunisia”.

Von der Leyen told the newspaper that a training camp in Tunisia would be a contribution toward regional stability.

“And if its direct neighbour Libya manages to put in place a unity government one day, its security forces could also benefit from established training facilities in Tunisia,” she said.

A defence ministry spokesman told AFP he had no further details beyond the minister’s remarks. The foreign ministry had no immediate comment.

German forces are currently engaged in the international alliance against Daesh, including by arming and training Kurdish forces in northern Iraq and flying reconnaissance missions over Syria with Tornado jets.

However the country’s defence commissioner Hans-Peter Bartels warned in a report last month that the German military was overstretched and underfunded and had reached “the limit of its capacity for interventions”.

Tunisia suffered two devastating attacks targeting its vital tourist sector last year, in the beach resort of Sousse and on the National Bardo Museum in Tunis, that together claimed 60 lives. Both were claimed by Daesh.