The Islamic State group issued a statement posted online Wednesday saying a militant it identified as Abu Abdullah al-Tunisi carried out the attack after infiltrating the bus and killing around 20 “apostates”.
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Tuesday’s attack on a bus carrying Tunisia’s presidential guards involved about 10 kilograms (22 pounds) of military explosives, the Interior Ministry said. ISIS assumed responsibility for staging two attacks in Tunisia earlier this year that killed almost 60 people and devastated the country’s tourism industry. We are prepared to assist Tunisian authorities in the coming days as they investigate this attack.
The video in which the claim was made, whose authenticity could not be confirmed, claimed the young shepherd gave information on “the soldiers of the Islamic State” to the Tunisian army.
“I want to reassure the Tunisian people that we will vanquish terrorism”, he added.
In June, 39 people, a lot of them British, were killed when a jihadist gunman went on a rampage at a seaside hotel at a resort in Sousse.
The blast hit when the vehicle was parked near a main artery in the capital where guard members are typically picked up and dropped off, according to the official.
The ministry announced on Wednesday morning that the prime minister had called a meeting aimed at intensifying security measures in the country amid a “fierce battle against terrorism”.
No-one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack against the presidential guard, an elite security force that protects only the president.
The IS statement said the attacker infiltrated the bus and killed about 30 people, contradicting Tunisia’s death toll of 12.
Thousands of Tunisians have travelled to Libya, Iraq and Syria to fight alongside Islamic extremists, according to the authorities.
ISIS released a video earlier this year threatening to ramp up its campaign against Tunisia.
The incidents exposed the nation’s vulnerability to terror attacks, despite the relative political stability it has enjoyed since a popular uprising unseated longtime dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in 2011.
Last month, the Norwegian Nobel Committee bestowed the world’s most prestigious prize upon The Quartet, a body consisting of four Tunisian groups, whose work helped ensure a peaceful democratic transition in Tunisia in 2013.
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Tunisia’s influential Islamist party also denounced the explosion, and urged Tunisians to unite behind the security forces as they hunt for the perpetrators.
