IS claims deadly Tunisia bus bombing

ISIS has claimed responsibility for bombing a bus carrying members of Tunisia’s presidential guard, the latest deadly attack to roil a country once hailed as one of the few success stories of the Arab Spring.

Police officers patrol in the main avenue of Tunis, Thursday, Nov…

Following the despicable terrorist attack that targeted Tuesday a bus of the presidential guard in Tunis, the Moroccan monarch rang President Beji Caid Essebsi and reiterated his “condemnation of this criminal act which aims to undermine the security and stability of Tunisia”.

However, this is different, as today’s explosion was the first suicide bombing to officially take place in the capital.

Ordinary Tunisians are demanding a strong response to the threat posed by the armed group calling itself Islamic State (IS) and similar groups.

Essebsi, who canceled a trip to Switzerland for Wednesday, declared a state of emergency throughout the country and a curfew in the capital.

Investigators in Tunisia are still scrambling to identify the final body from Tuesday’s bloody attack in the capital, with authorities saying they believed the man to be the suicide bomber but uncertainty flying about his nationality and links.

The statement says the “tyrants of Tunis will not have peace and we will not rest until the law of God governs in Tunis”. At Tunis worldwide airport security forces were allowing in only passengers travelling.

“This is a new type of attack that targets the prestige of the state, such as the symbol of the presidential guard”, said presidential security official Hichem Gharbi.

Tunisia has been plagued by Islamist violence since the 2011 overthrow of longtime dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, and dozens of members of the security forces have also been killed. Tunisian national Houssam ben Hedi ben Miled Abdelli, a 27-year-old local street vendor, was indentified by his DNA, according to the country’s interior ministry.

Several thousands Tunisians are fighting with Islamic State and other groups in Iraq and Syria, and the gunmen in the Sousse and Bardo Museum attacks all trained at Jihadist camps in Libya. It is also building a security wall along the border with Libya to try to stop militants crossing over into its territory.