Suicide bomber attacks US embassy in Tunisia: Militant on a motorcycle tries to storm consulate in Tunis before blowing himself up injuring five
- Local media said five police officers were wounded in the vicious attack Friday
- US Embassy confirmed the bombing and urged people to avoid the area in Tunis
- Scorched motorbike and damaged police vehicle could be seen in the street
- Last summer ISIS claimed responsibility for three attacks in the capital city
Five Tunisian police officers were wounded this morning after a suicide bomber blew himself up outside the US Embassy in the capital.
The assailant tried to enter the consulate but was blocked by police who guarded the diplomatic mission in the Berges du Lac district of Tunis, a police official said.
‘The operation was doomed to fail,’ he said. The attacker had been riding on a motorcycle before attempting his vicious rush on the US Embassy.
There was a scorched motorbike and a damaged police vehicle a few feet from the embassy’s main gate and stray limbs lay in pools of blood on the road.
Last summer, ISIS claimed responsibility for three blasts in the city, Friday morning’s attack marking the worst since those terrorist atrocities.
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Police and forensic experts gather at the scene of an explosion near the US embassy in the Tunisian capital Tunis. A badly damaged Fiat 500 hatchback can be seen with its front windshield shattered not far from a stray limb lying in the road
A Tunisian official walks across the road surrounded by debris which filled the street along with a dismembered limb
Forensic experts investigate at the scene of suicide attack outside the US Embassy which injured five Tunisian officers guarding the diplomatic mission
A helicopter whirled overhead and large numbers of police and forensics officers gathered at the scene.
The explosion caused panic among pedestrians near the embassy, images shared online showed.
Embassy officials confirmed the attack in a tweet on its official Twitter feed, and urged people to avoid the area.
Radio Mosaique, a local radio station, reported that the attacker had injured five police officers when blowing himself up. The station also reported that there may have been a second perpetrator.
Sirens could be heard on the major highway linking the Lac district, where the embassy is located, with Tunis and suburbs in the north.
Police and forensics teams at the site of the blast in the Tunisian capital on Friday morning
A wide police cordon was set up outside the US Embassy this morning following the blast. Islamic State carried out three blasts in the capital last summer
Tunis residents stand on a road, following a reported explosion, near the U.S. embassy in Tunis, Tunisia
Last summer, Islamic State said it was behind three militant 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.
Tunisia’s critical tourism sector is highly vulnerable to militant incidents and was devastated after two major attacks in 2015, which killed scores of visitors at a beach resort and a popular museum.
Diplomats who have worked with Tunisia on its security capacity say it has grown more effective in preventing and responding to militant attacks in recent years.