Attack on US embassy in Tunisia leaves one dead

A policeman died, and five others were wounded, in a double suicide attack on Friday (6), in front of the United States embassy in Tunis, the capital of Tunisia - the Interior Ministry said.

A lieutenant could not resist his injuries and died. Another five policemen were wounded, in addition to a civilian. The explosion occurred before noon (local time), near the embassy in Berges du Lac, a neighborhood about 10 kilometers from the center of the capital. The sector is permanently protected by strong security barriers.

According to agents who were at the scene, the pair of attackers arrived on a motorcycle and detonated their explosive charge as they approached police officers at an intersection leading to the embassy.

Only a deflagration was heard, implying that one of the two suicide bombers failed to detonate his explosive.

The Civil Police were soon dispatched to the area, which was overflown by a helicopter. "Two people attacked a security patrol on the street that leads to the United States embassy," the Interior Ministry said in a statement, adding that "both attackers died". "All security units are on high alert," he added.

According to Ministry spokesman Khaled Ayuni, "the target of the suicide bombers was the police patrol, rather than the United States embassy."

On Twitter, the US embassy said it had taken action and asked the population to avoid the area

This attack brought up the memory of the attacks registered in the country after its 2011 "revolution".

After the fall of the dictatorship that year, Tunisia faced an offensive by extremist groups, which killed dozens of police and soldiers, as well as several civilians and 59 foreign tourists.

The last of them dates back to the end of June 2019, when there was a double suicide bombing against police officers in the center of the capital. The target was a security forces barracks.

Claimed by the Islamic State (IS) group, this attack caused the death of a police officer and resurged the specter of violence in a country traumatized by a series of attacks in 2015-2016.

The  Tunisia  is in a state of emergency since November 2015, when a suicide attack against the presidential guard in the capital killed 12 officers. ISIS also claimed responsibility for this attack