Twin suicide attacks targeting security forces have struck Tunisia’s capital, killing a patrol officer and injuring at least eight people.

One attacker detonated explosives in a busy commercial district near the French embassy in Tunis shortly before 11am on Thursday, apparently targeting a police patrol.

One of the officers died from his injuries and another was injured, along with three bystanders.

A second bomber struck at an entrance to the anti-terrorism brigade on the outskirts of the city at about the same time.

Four officers were hospitalised with injuries.

Tunisia has been struck repeatedly by terror attacks.

In October, a female suicide bomber struck the city centre, killing only herself. </s> TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) - Twin suicide attacks targeting security forces struck Tunisia’s capital on Thursday, injuring at least nine people.

One attacker detonated explosives in a busy commercial district near the French embassy shortly before 11 a.m., apparently targeting a police patrol. At least five people were injured, including two officers.

At nearly the same time, a second bomber struck at an entrance to the anti-terrorism brigade on the outskirts of the city. Four officers were hospitalized with injuries.

Tunisia has been struck repeatedly by terror attacks. In October a female suicide bomber struck the city center, killing only herself. </s> Two suicide blasts rocked the Tunisian capital on Thursday killing at least one police officer and wounding several people.

The first blast involved a suicide bomber who targeted a police patrol on Tunis’ central Charles de Gaulle street, not far from the French embassy.

One police officer was killed, while another was injured, according to the interior ministry. Three civilians were also wounded.

Body parts were strewn on the road around the police car, an AFP news agency correspondent reported.

A loud explosion was heard throughout the surrounding neighbourhood.

A second attacker blew himself up shortly afterwards on a base of the national guard in the capital’s al-Qarjani district, the interior ministry said. Four security personnel were wounded in that attack.

“At 11am (10:00 GMT) an individual blew himself up outside the back door” of the base, interior ministry spokesman Sofiene Zaag told AFP.

No immediate claim of responsibility was made for either blast. </s> The Tunisian capital has been rocked by two suicide bomb attacks, killing one police officer. The first struck a police car, while a short time later a second targeted a police station.

The first explosion, which occurred on central Charles de Gaulle Street near the French Embassy, killed one officer and injured at least one other cop and three civilians, according to the Interior Ministry. The second bomber blew themselves up near a police station in Al-Qarjani district.

Body parts were strewn across the streets while civilians and emergency services rushed to evacuate the injured.

There has been no immediate claim of responsibility but Tunisia has been battling militant groups operating in the border region with Algeria since 2011. Islamic State also perpetrated a gun attack against civilians and tourists at a resort in Port El Kantaoui in 2015, killing 38 people.

Thursday’s attacks come during peak tourist season and several months ahead of elections.

Think your friends would be interested? Share this story! </s> Tunis - Two suicide bombers attacked police and the national guard in the Tunisian capital on Thursday, wounding at least nine people including several civilians, the interior ministry said.

One attack on the main street of Tunis wounded three civilians and two police personnel, the interior ministry said.

Body parts were strewn in the road around a police car on Habib Bourguiba avenue near the old city, according to an AFP correspondent.

"It was a suicide attack, which took place at 10:50" (0950 GMT), on Habib Bourguiba, Interior Ministry spokesman Sofiene Zaag told AFP.

The suicide bomber did not kill anyone "but five (are) wounded - three civilians and two police officers", Zaag added.

The second attack targeted a base of the national guard in the capital and wounded four security personnel, the ministry said.

"At 11:00 am (1000 GMT) an individual blew himself up outside the back door" of the base, wounding four security personnel, Zaag said.

Civil protection units and police rapidly deployed to Habib Bourguiba avenue, where the interior ministry is located.

People initially fled in panic, before some crowded around the scene of the attack, expressing anger against the authorities. Shops and offices were closed by police.

On October 29 last year an unemployed graduate blew herself up near police cars on the same street, killing herself and wounding 26 people, mostly police officers, according to the interior ministry. </s> Two suicide bombers attacked police and the national guard in the Tunisian capital on Thursday, wounding at least nine people including several civilians, the interior ministry said.

One attack on the main street of Tunis wounded three civilians and two police personnel, the interior ministry said.

Body parts were strewn in the road around a police car on Habib Bourguiba avenue near the old city, according to an AFP correspondent.

"It was a suicide attack, which took place at 10:50" (0950 GMT), on Habib Bourguiba, Interior Ministry spokesman Sofiene Zaag told AFP.

The suicide bomber did not kill anyone "but five (are) wounded -- three civilians and two police officers", Zaag added.

The second attack targeted a base of the national guard in the capital and wounded four security personnel, the ministry said.

"At 11:00 am (1000 GMT) an individual blew himself up outside the back door" of the base, wounding four security personnel, Zaag said.

Civil protection units and police rapidly deployed to Habib Bourguiba avenue, where the interior ministry is located. </s> A suspected double suicide bombing in the Tunisian capital on Thursday killed a police officer and injured at least eight others, security sources told Efe.

The first blast occurred before midday when an apparent suicide bomber hit a police patrol vehicle on the corner of Rue Charles de Gaulle and Avenue de France in downtown Tunis, an area of the city busy with pedestrians and not far from the heavily-guarded French embassy.

"There was a huge explosion which rocked the whole street. People fled running in all directions," an eye-witness told Efe just meters from the entrance of the city's medina, a tourist hotspot.

Minutes after the explosion, the interior ministry confirmed there had been a fatality.

"One of the two seriously injured officers has died," the ministry said. "Three civilians have been hospitalized with injuries of varying degrees of gravity," it added.

Security services quickly cordoned off the scene of the attack and ushered onlookers away to clear a path for ambulances.

Body parts belonging to the alleged bomber were strewn across the road.

Within three hours the area had largely returned to normal.

Shortly after the first blast, a second bomber attacked the police's counter-terror department in the Al Gorjani neighborhood of the city, resulting in four casualties, security sources said.

"An investigation has been opened to clarify the circumstances behind the attacks," the ministry said. No group was yet to claim responsibility for the bombings.

State TV reported a third attack in the coastal city of Sousse, one of the holiday hotspots in the North African country, but the news was later dismissed as false.

It was the first attack to hit the Tunisian capital since Oct. 2018, when a 20-year-old detonated an explosive being carried in a bag near a police patrol vehicle on Habib Bourguiba Avenue, which is also near the French embassy, injuring 15.

Police later said the bomber on that occasion had come from a rural area of the country and had linked up with groups affiliated to the Islamic State terror organization.

That was the most serious attack in the country since 2015, when a spate of three attacks in Sousse killed 72 people – 60 foreign tourists and 12 members of the presidential guard.

Those attacks, which prompted a massive drop in Tunisia's tourism, one of the country's principal economic pillars, were claimed by a group claiming IS affiliation

Tunisia is considered the fourth-largest exporter of foreign extremists joining the Islamic State terror organization in Iraq and Syria behind Russia, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan.

Furthermore, since the 2011 revolution, which triggered a wave of pro-democracy protests across North Africa and the Middle East in what came to be known as the Arab Spring, several extremist groups have been embroiled in a low-intensity conflict with state security. The groups are largely confined to the Kasserine mountains on the Algerian border.

Tunisia's instability has also been tested by the situation on its border with Libya, which is embroiled in a complex civil war of its own.

Thursday's attacks come just four months after presidential and legislative elections, which were seen as a crucial test for the country's democratic system.EFE-EPA </s> June 28 (UPI) -- Two suicide bomb attacks ripped through the Tunisian capital of Tunis killing at least one person and injuring eight others as its president was rushed to a military hospital due to a "severe health condition."

The Islamic State terrorist organization claimed responsibility for the dual attacks, the Washington Post reported.

The first suicide bomb exploded Thursday morning, targetting a security patrol on Charles De Gaulle Avenue in the tourist-friendly city center, killing a police officer and wounding other officers and bystanders, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.

A second blast occurred about a half hour later near the judicial police directorate, injuring six police officers.

The National Defense Ministry said that terrorists attempted to destroy a transmitting radio station almost 200 miles away on Mount Orbata, but failed, the state-run Tunis Afrique Presse reported.

"The military units present on the scene responded immediately forcing the terrorists to flee to the mountains," the department said in a release.

Prime Minister Youssef Chahed visited said the attacks had "failed."

"They reflect the desperation of terrorists after the successful security and military operations conducted during the month of Ramadan," he said.

Reps. Alcee Hastings (D-Fla.) and David Shweikert (D-Ariz.), co-chairs of the Congressional Tunisia Caucus, said in a joint statement that they were "saddened" to learn of the attacks and that they will continue to "stand shoulder to shoulder with Tunisia during this time of grief."

"Terrorism cannot be allowed to take hold anywhere," they said. "We all must unequivocally condemn these terrorist attacks as the heinous and cowardly acts of violence that they represent."

Meanwhile, President Beji Caid Essebsi, 92, was rushed to the hospital Thursday due to a "severe health condition," the presidency said on Facebook.

Later in the day, the presidency said he was "stable" and undergoing tests.

The suicide attacks are the first since October when a female suicide bomber attacked police on Habib Bourguiba Avenue. </s> People are prevented to enter a security area after an explosion in Tunis, Thursday June 27, 2019. The Tunisian Interior ministry said one police officer has died in the suicide bombing targeting a police patrol in a busy commercial street in central Tunis. (AP Photo/Riadh Dridi)

TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) — Twin suicide bombings targeting security forces struck Tunisia’s capital on Thursday, killing a patrol officer and injuring at least eight people.

Tunisia has been struck repeatedly by terror attacks, threatening the country’s relative political stability in the region. Thursday’s bombings came as the country’s 92-year-old president, who had been released from a brief hospitalization less than a week ago, was rushed again to the hospital after being struck with a “serious illness.”

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for Thursday’s attacks through its Aamaq news agency. It was unclear whether it was an opportunistic claim.

One attacker detonated explosives in a busy commercial district near the French embassy shortly before 11 a.m., apparently targeting a police patrol. One of the officers died from his injuries, and another was injured along with three bystanders.

At nearly the same time, a second bomber struck at an entrance to the anti-terrorism brigade on the outskirts of the city. Four officers were hospitalized with injuries.

The Islamic State group was behind Tunisia’s deadliest extremist attacks, which struck at the heart of Tunisia’s tourism sector in 2015. One at the Bardo Museum in Tunis killed 22 people, and another three months later killed 38 people in the coastal city of Sousse.

In the aftermath, travel agencies pulled out and foreign governments issued warnings for citizens planning to go to Tunisia. Tourism has partially bounced back since Tunisia’s government increased security around popular destinations.

Tourism Minister Rene Trabelsi sought to reassure visitors after Thursday’s bombings, saying police were investigating aggressively.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Trabelsi said he did not think the first attack was tied to the French Embassy nearby but had targeted Tunisian police.

“This attack against national security agents…has nothing to do with tourists,” he said.

The minister said he had a “message to tourists: have a good holiday and come to Tunisia. Tunisia is a country that fights these terrorists.”

The U.S. State Department currently lists Tunisia at the same risk level as France in terms of danger for travelers.

Until Thursday, it had been a while since Tunisia had an episode of serious violence. A female suicide bomber struck the center of Tunis in October, killing only herself.

Mehdi el Arem in Tunis, Lori Hinnant and Angela Charlton in Paris contributed.
Twin blasts from suicide bombers, kill one police officer and wound nine others in Tunis.