2015 Tunis bombing

Last updated

2015 Tunis bombing
Part of ISIL insurgency in Tunisia
Location map Tunis.png
Red pog.svg
Muhamed V Avenue
2015 Tunis bombing (Tunis)
Tunisia adm location map.svg
Red pog.svg
2015 Tunis bombing (Tunisia)
Location Tunis, Tunisia
Date24 November 2015
TargetPresidential escorts
Attack type
Suicide bombing
Weapon Semtex explosive belt [1]
Deaths14 (including the perpetrator) [2]
Injured16
PerpetratorsHoussem Abdelli

On 24 November 2015, a bus carrying Tunisian presidential guards exploded, killing 12, on a principal road in Tunis, Tunisia. [3] [4] ISIL claimed responsibility for the attack. [5] [6] The bomber, who also died in the attack, was identified as Houssem Abdelli. [1]

Contents

Bombing

On 24 November 2015, at least 12 people were killed in a bus bombing in Tunis, the capital of Tunisia. The bus was carrying members of the Tunisian Presidential Security guard. The blast happened when the vehicle was parked near a main artery in the Tunisian capital where guard members are typically picked up and dropped off, according to an official in the Tunisian Prime Minister's office. [7]

The explosion, described as an "attack" by presidential spokesman Moez Sinaoui, struck on the capital's Mohamed V Avenue, a ministry official told AFP. An AFP journalist reported seeing the partly burnt out shell of the bus, with police, ambulances, and fire trucks at the scene. [8]

The bomber was identified as Houssem Abdelli, a 28-year-old resident of Tunis. [1] [9] The man's mother identified him from a photograph. [9]

Response

The Tunisian Interior Ministry announced that this was an act of terrorism, [10] using a Semtex explosive traced to Libya. [11] The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant militant group claimed responsibility for the attack in an online statement, [12] though authorities did not discuss any ties between the bomber and extremist groups. [1]

The group has also claimed responsibility for two attacks in Tunisia earlier in the year, targeting the tourism industry: the Bardo museum attack in March and an attack on a beach resort in Sousse in June. [13]

After the attack, President Beji Caid Essebsi placed Tunis under curfew and resumed a month-long state of emergency. [13] The Tunisian Interior Ministry reported that national security raids had led to the arrest of 40 people with suspected ties to terrorist groups. [9] Among the people arrested were the suspected bomber's sister and mother. [14] The Tunisian government's Security Council shut down Facebook accounts and websites linked to terrorist groups. [9]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Insurgency in the Maghreb (2002–present)</span> Sunni Islamic insurgency in the Maghreb

An Islamist insurgency is taking place in the Maghreb region of North Africa, followed on from the end of the Algerian Civil War in 2002. The Algerian militant group Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) allied itself with al-Qaeda to eventually become al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). The Algerian and other Maghreb governments fighting the militants have worked with the United States and the United Kingdom since 2007, when Operation Enduring Freedom – Trans Sahara began.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bardo National Museum (Tunis)</span> National museum in Tunis, Tunisia

The Bardo National Museum is a museum of Tunis, Tunisia, located in the suburbs of Le Bardo.

Events in the year 2003 in the Palestinian territories.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jaish ul-Adl</span> Militant separatist organization in Iran

Jaish ul-Adl, or Jaish al-Adl, is a Sunni Islamic group and Baluchi separatist organization that operates mainly in the Sistan and Baluchestan province in Iran, where there is a substantial Baloch population and a porous border with Pakistan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bardo National Museum attack</span> 2015 mass killing of hostages by militants in Tunis, Tunisia

On 18 March 2015, two militants attacked the Bardo National Museum in the Tunisian capital city of Tunis, and took hostages. Twenty-one people, mostly European tourists, were killed at the scene, and an additional victim died ten days later. Around fifty others were injured. The two gunmen, Tunisian citizens Yassine Labidi and Saber Khachnaoui, were killed by police. Police treated the event as a terrorist attack.

The following lists events that happened during 2015 in the Tunisian Republic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Islamic State in Libya</span> Branch of Islamic State in Libya

The Islamic State – Libya Province is a militant Islamist group active in Libya under three branches: Fezzan Province in the desert south, Cyrenaica Province in the east, and Tripolitania Province in the west. The branches were formed on 13 November 2014, following pledges of allegiance to IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi by militants in Libya.

On 25 May 2015, a mass murder took place at the Bouchoucha military base in Tunis. A Tunisian soldier, later identified as Corporal Mehdi Jemaii, who was forbidden from carrying weapons, stabbed a soldier, then took his weapon. He then opened fire on soldiers during a flag-raising ceremony, killing seven and wounding ten, including one seriously injured who died on May 31, before he was killed during an exchange of gunfire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2015 Sousse attacks</span> Mass shooting at a Tunisian tourist resort on 26 June 2015

On 26 June 2015, a mass shooting occurred at the tourist resort at Port El Kantaoui, about 10 kilometres north of the city of Sousse, Tunisia. Thirty-eight people, 30 of whom were British, were killed when a gunman, Seifeddine Rezgui, attacked a hotel. It was the deadliest non-state attack in the history of modern Tunisia, with more fatalities than the 22 killed in the Bardo National Museum attack three months before. The attack received widespread condemnation around the world. The Tunisian government later "acknowledged fault" for slow police response to the attack.

On 26 June 2015, attacks occurred in France, Kuwait, and Tunisia, one day following a deadly massacre in Syria. The day of the attacks was dubbed "Bloody Friday" by Anglophone media and "Black Friday" among Francophone media in Europe and North Africa.

This article contains a timeline of events from January 2015 to December 2015 related to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/ISIS). This article contains information about events committed by or on behalf of the Islamic State, as well as events performed by groups who oppose them.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Ben Guerdane</span> Battle in Tunisia

The Battle of Ben Guerdane occurred on March 7, 2016, in the city of Ben Gardane in Tunisia on the border with Libya. Islamic State forces attempted to seize the city, but were repulsed by the Tunisian military. The clashes continued also on 8 and 9 of March in the area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Islamic State insurgency in Tunisia</span> Armed conflict (2015–2022)

The Islamic State Insurgency in Tunisia referred to the low–level militant and terror activity of the Islamic State branch in Tunisia from 2015 to 2022. The activity of the Islamic State (IS) in Tunisia began in June 2015, with the Sousse attacks, though an earlier terror incident in Bardo Museum in March 2015 was claimed by ISIL, while the Tunisian government blamed Okba Ibn Nafaa Brigade for the attack. Following massive border clashes near Ben Guerdane in March 2016, the activity of the IS group was described as an armed insurgency, switching from previous tactics of sporadic suicide attacks to attempts to gain territorial control. The armed insurgency was suppressed in 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">November 2016 Hillah suicide truck bombing</span> Terrorist attack in Hillah, Iraq

A suicide bombing occurred in Iraq on 24 November 2016 when a truck bomb exploded at a petrol station in Hillah, some 100 kilometers from southern Baghdad, killing at least 125 people and injuring many others.

The 2019 Tunis bombings occurred on 27 June 2019, when two suicide bombers detonated their explosives in two areas of Tunis, Tunisia, killing a police officer and wounding nine other people. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant claimed responsibility.

From late October to mid November 2021, the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) and the Islamic State organization carried out four bombing attacks across Uganda.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Tunisia identifies bus suicide bomber as Tunisian national". Reuters.
  2. "State of emergency declared after 14 killed in Tunis bus attack". Middle East Eye. 24 November 2015. Retrieved 24 November 2015.
  3. Gandar, Kashmira (24 November 2015). "Tunisia bus explosion: Bomb kills 12 on Tunis bus in 'act of terror'". The Independent. Archived from the original on 1 May 2022. Retrieved 24 November 2015.
  4. Amara, Tarek (24 November 2015). "Bombing of Tunisia presidential guard bus kills 12". Reuters. Retrieved 24 November 2015.
  5. "Islamic State Claims Responsibility for Deadly Bus Attack in Tunis". The Wall Street Journal . 25 November 2015. Retrieved 27 November 2015.
  6. "Islamic State claims responsibility for fatal Tunis bus attack". The Guardian . 25 November 2015. Retrieved 27 November 2015.
  7. Houda Zaghdoudi; Sara Sidner; Greg Botelho; Ed Payne (24 November 2015). "ISIS claims Tunisia bomb attack that killed 12". CNN. Retrieved 25 November 2015.
  8. "Bomb attack on Tunisia presidential guard bus kills at least 14". Yahoo News. Retrieved 24 November 2015.
  9. 1 2 3 4 "Houssem Abdelli named as principal suspect in terror attack". Tunisialive. Archived from the original on 5 December 2015. Retrieved 27 November 2015.
  10. "The Latest: Tunisian attack was 'terrorist act'; 12 dead". kltv.com. Archived from the original on 25 November 2015. Retrieved 24 November 2015.
  11. "Tunisia says suicide bomber carried out bus attack claimed by Islamic State". Reuters.
  12. "Tunisia blast: Islamic State says it carried out bus attack". BBC News. 25 November 2015. Retrieved 25 November 2015.
  13. 1 2 Amara, Tarek. "Apparent suicide attack on Tunisian presidential guard bus kills 12". Reuters. Retrieved 28 November 2015.
  14. "Dozens arrested in Tunisian presidential guard bombing". CNN. 27 November 2015. Retrieved 28 November 2015.

36°48′40″N10°11′05″E / 36.8110°N 10.1846°E / 36.8110; 10.1846