Explosion hits near US embassy in Tunisia, one killed

A policeman has been killed and several others have been wounded in an explosion outside the United States Embassy in the Tunisian capital, Tunis.

Tunisia’s Interior Ministry said two assailants on a motorbike blew themselves up outside the embassy in the Lac district on Friday, adding that that attack also wounded five police officers, while a civilian sustained minor injuries.

Meanwhile, state news agency TAP reported that the blast claimed the life of one policeman.

“We heard a very powerful explosion … We saw the remains of the terrorist lying on the ground after he went on the motorbike toward the police,” Amira, a shopkeeper, told Reuters.

Following the attack, roads around security installations were sealed in some parts of the capital, and some international institutions were put on lockdown or evacuated.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the explosion. But Tunisia has been hit by a number of deadly attacks by ISIS terrorists in the past.

Last summer, Daesh claimed responsibility for blasts that hit Tunis over the course of a week, including one near the French Embassy that killed a policeman.