At least 12 Tunisian presidential guards were killed and several others were wounded in a suspected suicide bombing targeting their bus in Tunis Tuesday evening, interior ministry officials said.
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In a statement posted on the Internet on Wednesday, the group says a militant it identified as Abu Abdullah al-Tunisi carried out the attack after infiltrating the bus and killing around 20 “apostates”.
It contained a photo of the alleged suicide bomber, along with the message: “Tyrants of Tunis must know that they will not be safe, God willing, and we won’t stop until the law of God rules Tunis”.
The country’s president has declared a month-long nationwide state of emergency in light of the attack.
The IS statement said the attacker infiltrated the bus and killed about 30 people, contradicting Tunisia’s death toll of 12.
The killing of 16-year-old Mabrouk Soltani on November 13 sparked anger in Tunisia.
And that spirit of defiance was palpable among people who descended on central Tunis to watch movies being screened at the 26th Carthage Film Festival, some in venues only hundreds of metres from the bomb scene.
Security officials said the bomber blew himself up as presidential guards were boarding a bus on Mohamed V Avenue to travel to the presidential palace for duty.
The attack began as Egyptian troops and policemen guarding the Swiss Inn opened fire on a suspicious auto approaching the building, blowing up the explosives-laden vehicle before it reached the hotel, the military said.
Islamic State claimed responsibility for both those attacks.
One of the most secular Arab countries, Tunisia has enjoyed relative stability since its uprising compared with neighbours Libya and Egypt. It has a new constitution, held free elections and established compromise politics between secular and Islamist parties that has allowed some progress.
Also in March, an attack by Islamist extremists at the famed Bardo museum near the capital killed 22 people. “The country just suffered its third terrorist attack this year and tourists have already heavily stopped going to Tunisia”.
But on Sunday, a militant group claimed the beheading of a young Tunisian shepherd on behalf of ISIS, accusing him of having informed the army about their movements.
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Tunisia has also closed its border with Libya for 15 days. Yet Tunisia remains a target of terrorist attacks, and Tunisians are believed to be flocking to fight in Iraq and Syria in the thousands.
