State of emergency in Tunisia after terrorist attack

It was the third major attack in Tunisia this year, after an Islamist militant killed 38 foreigners at a beach hotel in the resort of Sousse in June, and gunmen killed 21 tourists at the Bardo Museum in Tunis in March.

Another source told Bloomberg that the explosion in the center of Tunis, on Avenue Mohamed V, was most likely carried out by a suicide bomber who had managed to sneak onto the bus.

Both cases of terrorism this year, has left a great dent on Tunisia’s tourism industry.

President Beji Caid Essebsi, who wasn’t in the bus at the time of the attack, declared a 30-day state of emergency across the country and imposed an overnight curfew on the Tunis region.

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.

No group claimed responsibility for Tuesday’s attack.

With the emergency the government will get more executive flexibility, security forces will get more power and civil rights will be restricted.

Another body was discovered in the charred remains of a bus carrying presidential guards that exploded in central Tunis on Tuesday, spokesman Walid Louguini said.

His office also said that Essebsi had cancelled a trip to Switzerland, which had been scheduled for Wednesday. Prime Minister Habib Essid and Interior Minister Najem Gharsalli visited the scene of the attack after it was cordoned off by police.

The Islamic State jihadist group has previously staged attacks in the North African country, often seen as a rare success story of the Arab Spring after its 2011 overthrow of longtime dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.