ISIL claims bomb attack on Tunisian presidential guard that killed 13

The Islamic State group on Wednesday claimed it had carried out a suicide bombing of a bus in central Tunis carrying members of Tunisia’s presidential guard.

The explosion that took place on Tuesday had killed 13 people.

IS said a Tunisian, Abou Abdallah al-Tounissi, had boarded a bus wearing an explosives belt only a few hundred metres from the interior ministry as it picked up guards on their way to work on Tuesday.

In a statement today, Madani expressed his solidarity with Tunisia and said such acts of terrorism are seeking to alter the country’s “moderation and tolerance-driven model of society”. Militants are able to preach and recruit more openly than ever, yet at the same time, young Tunisians have said the freedoms and elections have done little to improve their lives. Only those with booked flights were allowed to enter the Tunis global airport.

The National Security Council of Tunisia also belatedly approved the release of money in a counterterrorism fund that would finance relief projects in the most disadvantaged regions of the country, which is wedged between Libya to the east and Algeria on the west.

Tunisian authorities identified on Thursday a suicide bomber who killed 12 elite presidential guards earlier this week.

Essid said on Wednesday that because “some of the materials used in the bombing are not available in Tunisia, but they can be found in Libya”, the country would close its border with its highly unstable neighbor.

Louguini could not confirm or deny Tunisian media reports that the body could be that of a suicide bomber who jumped on the bus right before the bomb exploded. In March, an attack at Tunisia’s famed Bardo museum near the capital killed 22 people.

The Tunisian government has not commented on the terror group’s claim.

Seven women were recently detained for engaging in pro-IS propaganda, while 20 people were arrested on suspicion of planning attacks on hotels and security facilities.

Article 80 of the 2014 Tunisian constitution gives the president the authority to decree exceptional measures “in the event of imminent danger that threatens the nation or the security or independence of the country and that hampers the normal operations of state institutions”.

The interior ministry on Monday said Tunisia’s ex-president Moncef Marzouki was the target of an assassination plot by a “terrorist” group.