Police taped off the area around the blast site, which was littered with debris [Mohamed Mdalla/Anadolu]
Two suicide bombers have blown themselves up outside the United States embassy in the Tunisian capital, killing a policeman and injuring several others, authorities said, in the most serious attack in months.
Witnesses said a man on a motorbike blew himself up near the diplomatic mission in the Berges du Lac district, causing panic among pedestrians at the site.
Photos posted on local news websites showed damaged vehicles on the road outside the embassy.
Sucide attack with a motorbike targeting the US embassy in Tunis, no casualties has been reported yet.Photos grabbed from other twitts. pic.twitter.com/UH94C8o5t5
— Karim Benabdallah (@karim2k) March 6, 2020
Police taped off the area around the blast site, which was littered with debris. The US flag could be seen fluttering in the background.
The US embassy in Tunis said emergency personnel were responding to the explosion.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.
Emergency personnel are responding to an explosion that occurred near the U.S. Embassy in Tunis. Please avoid the area and monitor local media for updates.
— U.S. Embassy Tunis (@usembassytunis) March 6, 2020
The interior ministry said two suicide bombers were killed carrying out the attack, and five police and one civilian were injured.
State news agency TAP, citing the interior ministry, later reported that one of the security officials succumbed to his wounds.
“We heard a very powerful explosion … we saw the remains of the terrorist lying on the ground after he went on the motorbike towards the police,” said Amira, a shopkeeper.
Armed men have targeted Tunisia repeatedly in recent years, killing scores of people.
Last summer, the ISIL (ISIS) group said it was behind three blasts in the capital, including one near the French embassy that killed a policeman and another that wounded five people during a security operation to detain a suspect.
Security forces inspect the blast site near the US embassy [Fethi Belaid/AFP]
SOURCE:
Al Jazeera and news agencies
