State of Emergency after Tunis Bomb Kills 12
Local Editor
Tunisia reinstated a state of emergency after at least 12 people were killed Tuesday when an explosion tore through a bus full of Tunisian presidential guards in an attack that one source said was probably the work of a suicide bomber.
Ambulances rushed the wounded from the scene and security forces closed off streets around Mohamed V Avenue, one of the main streets in the capital Tunis, where the charred wreckage of the bus lay, not far from the Interior Ministry.
A security source at the site of the attack said "most of the agents who were on the bus are dead."
President Beji Caid Essebsi cancelled a trip to Europe and said Tunis would be placed under curfew until Wednesday 5 a.m. [0400 GMT]. He reinstated a month-long state of emergency, temporarily giving the government more executive flexibility, security forces more powers, and restricting some civil rights.
It was the third major attack in Tunisia this year, after a terrorist killed 38 foreigners at a beach hotel in the resort of Sousse in June, and gunmen killed 21 tourists at the Bardo Museum in Tunis in March. "ISIS" claimed both those attacks.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for Tuesday's attack.
Security sources said the guards were boarding the bus to be taken to the presidential palace on the outskirts of the city when it blew up. One presidential source said it was likely that a bomber had detonated his explosive belt inside the bus.
At least 12 guards were killed and 17 wounded, according to an Interior Ministry statement.
But several thousand Tunisians have also left to fight in Syria, Iraq and Libya with "ISIS" and other terrorist groups, and some have threatened to carry out attacks at home.
The army has also been fighting against another militant group in the mountains near the Algerian border. Militants have attacked checkpoints and patrols in rural areas in the past.
In September, the government received intelligence reports pointing to possible car bombings in the capital and banned traffic in parts of the city.
This month, authorities arrested 17 extremist militants and said they had prevented another major assault, planned for November, on hotels and security forces in Sousse.
Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team
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