Suicide Bombings At Tunisian Capital Leave 1 Dead & Several Wounded

Source: Anadolu Agency / Getty

Suicide Bombings In Tunisia Leave 1 Dead And More Wounded

A pair of suicide bombers blew themselves up in separate attacks on police on Thursday in the Tunisian capital, killing one police officer and wounding several other people, according to reports from CBC News.

It was not immediately known who was behind these attacks, which took place 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. The first targeted a police patrol in Charles de Gaulle Street in central Tunis. One police officer was killed and at least one other officer and three civilians were wounded, the interior ministry said.

Shortly thereafter, another suicide bomber blew himself up near a police station in the parking lot of the government anti-terrorism agency in al-Qarjani district. Four people were wounded from this attack, but none of them were fatal, the interior ministry said.

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.

Just last October, a woman blew herself up in the center of Tunis capital, wounding 15 people including 10 police officers in an explosion that broke period of calm after dozens died in militant attacks in 2015.

Security has improved since authorities imposed a state of emergency in November 2015 after those attacks — one at a museum in Tunis and another on a beach in Sousse. A third attack targeted presidential guards in the capital and killed 12. The group Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) claimed responsibility.

Those actions ended up scaring off holiday vacationers and investors, worsening their economic crisis.