Two dozen white-clad Imperial Troopers and other Star Wars characters marched Wednesday down a stately, tree-lined avenue in Tunis — a site where activists once fought riot police during the 2011 Arab Spring revolutions.

The empire was not striking back against the poster child for Arab democracy — just an innovative campaign to encourage tourists to return to this sunny desert-and-beach nation in North Africa.

Israel said on Thursday it was halting negotiations with the Palestinians following their unity deal with the Hamas rulers of Gaza, as faltering U.S.-backed peace talks approached their deadline.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu slammed the agreement between the rival factions as a move that "kills peace," but senior Palestinian official Saeb Erakat blamed the demise of the process on Israeli settlement activity.

Bahraini authorities caught two inmates Wednesday after their escape from a main jail prompted the dismissal of the Gulf kingdom's prisons chief, the interior ministry said.

The pair who escaped on Monday were being held over their alleged involvement in Shiite-led protests in the kingdom, where the Sunni monarchy crushed a February 2011 uprising backed by the Shiite majority, according to lawyers.

Tunisia's National Constituent Assembly or parliament on Friday began voting article by article on a new electoral law to govern legislative and presidential elections due before the end of 2014.

Just 139 of a total of 217 deputies were on hand to examine the articles before the assembly's vice president, Meherzia Laabidi, adjourned to try to reach an agreement how to proceed.

A landmine blast killed a soldier on Friday in western Tunisia's Mount Chaambi area, the defense ministry said, after warning of the growing threat from jihadists in the remote region.

"A landmine exploded inside the closed military zone at 11:45 am (1045 GMT). The driver of a military vehicle was killed," ministry spokesman Taoufik Rahmouni told Agence France Presse.

Tunis said Friday that the kidnappers of a Tunisian diplomat in Tripoli and an embassy colleague are demanding the release of Libyans jailed in Tunisia on terrorism charges.

Al-Aroussi Kontassi, the diplomat, was abducted Thursday in the Libyan capital, a month after Tunisian embassy employee Mohamed ben Sheikh was seized in Tripoli.

Tunisia faces a growing jihadist threat in the mountainous region near the border with Algeria where several soldiers have been killed battling militant Islamists, the defense ministry said on Thursday.

The presidency on Wednesday declared Mount Chaambi, as well as some surrounding areas including the mountains of Sammama, Salloum and Mghilla, "zones closed for military operations".

A Tunisian diplomat was kidnapped Thursday in Tripoli in unknown circumstances, a Libyan security source told Agence France Presse, just two days after armed men seized Jordan's ambassador.

A Tunisian source confirmed the abduction and identified the diplomat as Al-Aroussi Kontassi, without giving further details.

Tunisia's presidency on Wednesday declared a mountainous region near the border with Algeria where its forces have been hunting jihadists a "closed military zone".

"Mount Chaambi and some surrounding areas including the mountains of Sammama, Salloum and Mghilla" have been declared "zones closed for military operations", the presidency said.

Tunisian lawmakers on Monday condemned as excessively lenient appeal sentences handed to top security officials in Zine El Abidine Ben Ali's ousted regime for their part in repressing protests during the 2011 uprising.

The military court in Tunis ruled on Saturday in several appeals trials of officials implicated in the bloody crackdown on protesters that left more than 300 people dead in Tunis and Sfax during the revolt that ousted Ben Ali and ignited the Arab Spring.