ISIS has claimed responsibility for twin suicide attacks that killed a police officer and wounded at least eight other people in Tunisia, a US monitor has said. The claim is yet to be confirmed by officials from the Tunisian government or security services. Two separate attacks hit the country’s capital, Tunis, on Thursday morning. In […]
ISIS has claimed responsibility for twin suicide attacks that killed a police officer and wounded at least eight other people in Tunisia, a US monitor has said.
The claim is yet to be confirmed by officials from the Tunisian government or security services.
Two separate attacks hit the country’s capital, Tunis, on Thursday morning.
In the first, a police patrol car was targeted near the French embassy at around 11am.
A police officer was killed and three civilians were wounded in the blast.
At the same time, a second suicide bomber struck one of the entrances of the headquarters to the government’s anti-terrorism brigade on the outskirts of the city.
Four police officers were wounded and heavily armed police cordoned off streets throughout the city.
A statement by the Amaq news agency, an outlet with close ties to ISIS that is often the first point of publication for claims of responsibility, has also claimed that the group carried out the attacks.
“The executors of the two attacks on Tunisian security elements in the capital are Islamic State fighters,” it said.
Islamic State has said that it considers itself responsible both for acts committed by its own personnel and those by people without direct ties to the group but who were inspired by its propaganda.
Claims of responsibility published by Amaq have generally proved to be accurate in the past, the New York Times has reported.
British tourists have only recently started returning to Tunisia after the Sousse beach massacre and Bardo museum shooting in 2015, for which ISIS also claimed responsibility.
Footage taken at the scene of the first attack shows bystanders helping the wounded, including at least one person lying on the ground.
Body parts were strewn beside a pockmarked vehicle on the corner of Rue Charles de Gaulle and Habib Bourguiba Avenue in the city centre near western hotels.
It was around 100 yards from France’s embassy and also close to the Palmarium shopping centre which was targeted by a female suicide bomber in October.
“I was shopping with my daughter and we heard a big explosion,” said a man who give his name only as Mohamed.
“We saw the body of the terrorist lying on the ground near a police vehicle after he blew himself up.”
Interior Ministry spokesman Sofian Zaak called on the public to show strength and not panic.
People appeared to heed that message and within minutes of the attacks, they could be seen sitting as usual in cafes up and down Habib Bourghiba Avenue.
In a show of more open defiance, some 300 people gathered on the same street and held up pamphlets saying: “We do not fear terror, Tunisia is no place for terrorism.”
They chanted the national anthem and slogans praising the security forces.
Habib Bourguiba Avenue is the heart of the commercial and tourist district and is lined with western hotels and a theatre.
The Foreign Office urged travellers to “remain vigilant”, keep up to date with developments and follow the advice of local authorities.
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.
The attacks come as Tunisia’s 92-year-old President Beji Caid Essebsi was taken to hospital after falling seriously ill.
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