Five people linked to the two suicide bombers who killed one Friday in front of the American embassy in Tunis, were arrested and placed in preventive detention, spokesman for AFP said Tuesday, March 10 parquet.
Read also: Tunis: a double suicide attack in front of the American embassy
Arrested on Saturday, they were heard at the Gorjani police station, one of the main posts responsible for counterterrorism investigations in Tunis, added Sofiène Sliti, also spokesman for the counterterrorism pole, without giving further details. Local media presented the suicide bombers as two men from Tunis, convicted in 2014 under the law against terrorism and who are said to have served their sentences.
Read also: The center of Tunis, epicenter of partisan battles
At the end of the morning Friday, the two attackers set off their explosive charge near a police van stationed outside the American embassy in the Berges du Lac district, about ten kilometers from central Tunis. A 52-year-old lieutenant died of his injuries and five other police officers were hit as well as a civilian, according to the Interior Ministry.
Third attack in less than two years
A video shared on social networks - and which could not be authenticated by AFP - shows two men, in sports clothes and caps on their heads, heading on a scooter to a police van and then stopping a few seconds before the explosion. No further progress in the investigation opened on Friday has been announced by the Tunisian Interior Ministry. The attack has not been claimed to date.
Read also: Tunis: two suicide attacks against the police claimed by Daesh
Three suicide bombings have touched high places in the capital since October 2018, although the security situation has improved significantly in recent years, after a series of deadly attacks that had shaken the country in 2015. The country remains under state of emergency since a suicide attack claimed by the Islamic State group in November 2015 in the middle of Tunis, which had killed 12 members of the police.
»See also - Tunisia: explosion targets US embassy