Tunisia’s president has declared a state of emergency throughout the country and a curfew in the capital after an attack on a bus carrying his presidential guard killed at least 12 people. Beji Caid Essebsi, who was not on the bus when it was hit by an explosion in the centre of Tunis, said in a televised address the country was at war against terrorism and called for international cooperation against extremists who have staged attacks across the world in recent weeks.

The attack came days after authorities visibly increased the security level in the capital and deployed security forces in unusually high numbers. US Secretary of State John Kerry, visiting Tunis earlier this month, pledged expanded economic and security support for Tunisia, whose popular uprising unleashed the democracy movements across the region in 2011 that became known as the Arab Spring.

Did You Know???

• Tunisia is the only Arab Spring country to have solidified a new democracy, but it is facing serious economic and security challenges.
• Tunisia’s tourism industry has been hit especially hard this year.
• Shootings at a luxury beach hotel in Sousse last June killed 38 people, mostly tourists, while in March, an attack by Islamist extremists at Tunisia’s famed Bardo museum near the capital killed 22 people.

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