Suicide attackers struck outside the US embassy in the Tunisian capital yesterday, killing a police officer, wounding six other people and once again shaking a city repeatedly hit by militant violence.
The latest attack comes despite a state of emergency imposed in the North African nation in 2015 following a string of bloody assaults claimed by the Islamic State group.
An explosion at around midday rocked the Berges du Lac district, where the highly fortified embassy is located, causing panic among pedestrians and motorists.
“Two individuals targeted a security patrol...in the street leading to the American embassy,” the interior ministry said in a statement.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility. Police at the scene said the assailants drove to the area on a motorcycle and detonated their explosive devices as they were approached by officers deployed at a roundabout leading to the embassy.
The two attackers died and one officer, identified as 52-year-old father of three Lieutenant Taoufik Mohamed El Nissaoui, died of his wounds.
Five more injured officers and a lightly wounded female civilian were in a stable state, Interior Minister Hichem Mechichi told journalists.
“It was a homemade explosive device and we are looking for those who helped make it,” he said.
Local media reported police raids on two working-class neighbourhoods in northern Tunis.
Anti-terrorism prosecutors have opened an enquiry, spokesman Sofiene Sliti said, but no arrests had yet been made and the two attackers have not been officially identified.
“All security units are on high alert,” the interior ministry said.
After yesterday’s blast, police dispatched reinforcements and forensic experts to the area, where body parts were strewn across the ground.
A helicopter buzzed over the Berges du Lac, a district protected round-the-clock by security forces.
“It’s tough to have to go on working when your colleagues have been wounded,” said a police officer at the scene.
Office worker Haykel Boukraa spoke of widespread panic. “Our office is 300 metres from (the blast scene), but the explosion was so loud that the windows in our building shook,” the 49-year-old said.
“There was total panic,” he said. “We didn’t know if we should stay put or leave the office.”
Earlier police had said one of the two assailants had tried to enter the embassy but was prevented by police.
But interior ministry spokesman Khaled Ayouni said that “the police patrol was targeted, rather than the embassy”, noting that the attack took place the day before the fourth anniversary of a major terrorist attack in Tunisia.
In March 2016, an attack on security installations in the town of Ben Guerdane on the Libyan border killed 13 security forces and seven civilians.
The US embassy said yesterday in a statement on Twitter: “Emergency personnel are responding to an explosion that occurred near the US Embassy in Tunis.
“Please avoid the area and monitor local media for updates.”
Tunisia faced a rise in militant activity after its 2011 revolution, with attacks killing dozens of security personnel, civilians and foreign tourists.
While the security situation has significantly improved since a series of deadly attacks in 2015, Tunisia has maintained a state of emergency.
Assaults on security forces have persisted, mainly in remote areas along the border with Algeria.