Emergency clamped in Tunisia

TUNIS: Tunisia was under a state of emergency on Wednesday after the bombing of a presidential guard bus killed at least 12 people, the latest attack in a country plagued by Islamist violence.
President Beji Caid Essebsi and other members of the National Security Council were meeting to discuss crisis measures following the blast on Tuesday in the heart of Tunis.
A 9:00 pm to 5:00 am curfew has been imposed in the capital following the attack, along with a new nationwide state of emergency, which had been lifted less than two months previously.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the bombing in a busy area in the heart of Tunis, a few hundred metres from the interior ministry, which came as the 26th Carthage Film Festival was in full swing.
The Islamic State Jihadist group has previously staged attacks in the North African country, often seen as a rare success story of the Arab Spring after its 2011 overthrow of longtime dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
Twelve presidential guards were killed and 20 other people were wounded in Tuesday’s blast, including four civilians, according to a preliminary toll from the health ministry.
The remains of a 13th person found at the scene have not yet been identified, officials said.
"It could be that this is a terrorist," Health Minister Said Aidi told national television.
According to unconfirmed reports in Tunisian media, the blast was caused by a man wearing an explosives belt.
Some presidential guards expressed concern that not enough was being done to protect them from attacks.
"For years this place has been our gathering point but they didn’t think to change it although we are the first to be targeted," one guard said of the site of the bombing.
The transport ministry announced following the blast that security would be reinforced in the country’s ports and only passengers would be allowed to enter Tunis’s international airport.
A psychological unit was set up for the victims’ families.
Tunisia has been plagued by Islamist violence since the 2011 revolution and dozens of members of the security forces have been killed.
Two attacks this year claimed by the Islamic State group targeted foreigners -- at the National Bardo Museum in March, killing 21 tourists and a policeman, and at a resort hotel in Sousse in June, killing 38 tourists.
A year ago, a bus carrying troops was attacked by two armed men in northwest Tunisia, according to the defence ministry. Five soldiers were killed.