Blast in Tunis district home to US embassy: ministry

Assailant in attack on US embassy in Tunis killed: police

Tunis blast was attack targeting US embassy, caused injuries: police

An explosion rocked a district of the Tunisian capital home to the US embassy Friday, the interior ministry said without giving the cause, while state media spoke of an attack.

The blast caused panic among pedestrians near the embassy in the Berges du Lac district, images shared online showed.

The Police in Tunis confirmed that the assailant responsible for the attack has been killed but also noted that the the terrorist attack has causes multiple injuries. according to AFP preliminary reports.

Witnesses, according to Aljazeerqa reports said a man on a motorbike blew himself up near the diplomatic mission in the Berges du Lac district, causing panic among pedestrians at the site.

Photos posted on local news websites showed damaged vehicles on the road outside the embassy.

Karim Benabdallah@karim2k
Sucide attack with a motorbike targeting the US embassy in Tunis, no casualties has been reported yet.
Photos grabbed from other twitts.

The US embassy in Tunis confirmed the attack near the embassy with an alert that people should avoid the area.

According to the embassy, Emergency personnel are responding to an explosion that occurred near the U.S. Embassy in Tunis. Please avoid the area and monitor local media for updates.

The U.S. Embassy is located in Berges du Lac, 1053 Tunis.

The local Radio Mosaique FM said that five police officers were wounded. That report could not be immediately verified. The station also reported that there may have been a second perpetrator.

Armed gunmen have targeted Tunisia in recent years, killing scores of people.

Last summer, ISIL (ISIS) said it was behind three blasts in the capital, including one near the French embassy that killed a policeman and another that wounded five people during a security operation to detain a suspect.

 

Meshkal_TN

@MeshkalTn
Scene outside US Embassy in Tunis right now. Crime scene tape now going up. There appears to be a body organ on the street about 150 meters away from the embassy walls in the middle of the street.

 

This is a developing story.. updates coming