This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/aug/19/tunisian-policeman-shot-dead-near-beach-resort

The article has changed 2 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 0 Version 1
Tunisian policeman shot dead near beach resort of Sousse Tunisian policeman shot dead near beach resort of Sousse
(35 minutes later)
“Unknown assailants fired on three policemen on a road. One of them was hit and died in hospital,” said Rafik Chelly, Tunisian secretary of state for national security. A policeman has been shot dead by two attackers on a motorbike on the outskirts of Sousse, the Tunisian coastal city where a jihadi gunman killed 38 tourists in June. Three officers were targeted in the shooting, one of whom was hit and later died, according to the Tunisian interior ministry.
“An investigation is under way. We can’t say any more,” said Chelly, without being able to clarify if the attack was the work of jihadis. The officers are believed to have been shot at with a rifle while they were waiting for transportation to the nearby town of Kairouan from the low-income neighbourhood of Hay Zohour.
An interior ministry spokesman said the two other policemen were unharmed, contrary to an earlier report from Wataniya-1 television. Rafik Chelly, secretary of state for national security, said: “Unknown assailants fired on three policemen on a road. One of them was hit and died in hospital.” He added that an investigation was under way but was not able to clarify if the attack was the work of jihadi. An interior ministry spokesman said the two other policemen were unharmed, contrary to an earlier report from Wataniya-1 television.
The incident took place seven kilometres (five miles) from Sousse, he said, adding police were hunting the assailants who fled. The attack comes less than two months after a gunman killed 30 Britons and eight other foreign tourists at the Mediterranean resort of Port El Kantaoui in Sousse, an attack for which the Islamic State jihadi group claimed responsibility.
Counter-terrorism officers from Scotland Yard said earlier this month they had linked that attack by Seifeddine Rezgui with the March attack on the Bardo museum in the country’s capital, in which 21 tourists and a policeman were killed. Commander Richard Walton, head of Scotland Yark’s counter-terrorism command, said: “We are now linking evidentially the Bardo museum investigation in Tunisia, that attack, with the Sousse investigation. We have written to the coroner advising him of the connection between the two.”
Related: Survivors reveal heroism of Sousse hotel staff as Tunisia attack unfoldedRelated: Survivors reveal heroism of Sousse hotel staff as Tunisia attack unfolded
The policemen had been waiting by the side of the road for a ride to a town in central Tunisia when the attack occurred, according to local media. Tunisian authorities have arrested 159 people in relation to the 26 June shooting, with 15 charged with terrorism-related offences. The Tunisian president, Beji Caid Essebsi, decreed a state of emergency in the country after the incident, with Tunisia’s prime minister, Habib Essid, telling parliament: “We are engaged in a ferocious war against terrorism to protect lives and property, defend the republican regimes. We would not have felt obliged to decree the state of emergency if we were not convinced that our country was facing numerous terrorist plans to destabilise the country.”
The shooting came less than two months after a jihadi gunman killed 30 Britons and eight other foreign tourists on a beach in Sousse, in an attack claimed by Isis. Since its 2011 revolution, Tunisia has faced an upsurge in jihadiviolence that has cost the lives of dozens of soldiers and police. As many as 3,000 Tunisians are feared to have gone to Iraq, Syria and Libya to fight with militant groups, raising fears of returning jihadis plotting attacks on home soil.
Tunisia has been under a state of emergency in the wake of the 26 June massacre, which followed an attack by gunmen on the Bardo museum in Tunis that killed 21 foreign tourists and a policeman.
Isis also claimed responsibility for the 18 March museum attack, and additional troops have been posted at tourist sites since the beach killings.
Tunisia has since its 2011 revolution faced an upsurge in jihadi violence that has cost the lives of dozens of soldiers and police, with most attacks claimed by al-Qaida’s north African branch.