Monday, 23rd December 2024

At least one killed, several injured after two suicide explosions hit Tunis

Thursday, 27th June 2019

One police officer was killed and several others injured after two suicide members blew themselves in Tunisia's capital on Thursday.

The first blast occurred in central Tunis when a bomber targeted a police patrol on the city's main thoroughfare, Charles De Gaulle Avenue, according to an Interior Ministry statement.

One police officer was killed and at least one other as well as three civilians were wounded, the Ministry added.

The attack hit just a few months before an election and at the peak of a tourist season in which Tunisia is hoping for a record number of visitors.

Ten minutes after tha blast in Central Tunis, a police station in the city was hit by a second bomber.

"One person blew themselves up behind the back door of the police department in El Gorjani neighbourhood," the statement said.

At least four security personnel were injured in the El Gorjani bombing -- two of them seriously, according to Interior Ministry spokesman Sofien Zaak.

It was not immediately known who was behind the attacks.

Heavily armed police cordoned off the locations of the attacks, one of which was about 200 metres away from the French embassy.

Tunisia has been battling militant groups operating in remote areas near the border with Algeria since an uprising overthrew autocratic leader Zine Abidine Ben Ali in 2011. High unemployment has also stoked unrest in recent years.

The attack came a day after the fourth anniversary of the Sousse attack, in which gunman went on a rampage on a Tunisian seaside resort, killing 38 people. ISIS claimed responsibility for that attack.

A state of emergency has been in effect for Tunisia since the terror attacks that year.

Last year, a 30-year-old woman blew herself up near a police patrol in Tunis, injuring at least nine people.