A member of the National Guard (gendarmerie) was killed on Sunday morning, September 6 in a seaside resort in eastern Tunisia during a "
terrorist
"
attack
, and three assailants were then shot dead, he said. AFP spokesman for the National Guard.
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Each attack plunges the country, cradle of the Arab Spring, into the memory of the series of suicide attacks after its 2011 revolution. The city of Sousse, where the gendarme was killed on Sunday, was notably the scene of a jihadist attack murderous in 2015.
“
A patrol of two National Guard agents was the victim of a knife attack in Sousse.
One of them fell as a martyr and the other, wounded, is hospitalized
”, indicated Houcem Eddine Jebabli, spokesperson for the National Guard.
The security forces pursued the attackers, who had stolen the patrol car and seized the pistols of the victims, according to the same source.
"
In an exchange of fire, three terrorists were killed,
" added Jebabli, adding that the National Guard car and the weapons had been recovered by the police.
The attack and the pursuit of the attackers took place in the Akouda district, in the El Kantaoui tourist area, according to the National Guard.
The Interior Ministry said in a statement that "
the three attackers
" had "
hit
" the two National Guard officers with their own car, but without mentioning that they had stabbed them.
The ministry confirmed the death of the three attackers in an exchange of fire with the security forces, without giving further details.
President Kais Saied, who visited the scene of the attack, said during a discussion with a security official that the attackers hit the two gendarmes and then stabbed them.
"
The technical police must come to (identify) those behind these people (the attackers) and find out whether they carried out this operation individually or on behalf of an organization,
" Kais Saied said.
Around 12:30 p.m. local time, traffic had resumed its normal rhythm, AFP noted.