Suicide Attack Jolts Tunisia as New Leaders Aim to Lure Tourists

(Bloomberg) --

Two attackers blew themselves up close to the U.S. Embassy in Tunisia on Friday, exposing a lingering security challenge for the country's new government as it attempts to revive a tourism-dependent economy also hit by the coronavirus.

The Interior Ministry said militants “targeted a security patrol across the street from the American Embassy” in Tunis. While it said five members of the security services were wounded, Mosaique FM reported that one policeman was killed.

“This was a terrorist attack,” Walid Hakima, a police spokesman, said by phone.

It was the first militant attack in the city since the middle of last year. Tunisia saw a spate of fatal strikes targeting tourists in 2015 that battered the vacation industry and set back efforts to boost economic growth.

Late last month, lawmakers approved a new government under Prime Minister Elyes Fakhfakh after four months of political deadlock.

Tunisia, a rare democracy in the Arab world, has seen 10 governments since 2011 but has been dogged by lackluster economic growth and a youth unemployment rate that's roughly double the national average. Mainstream political parties took a hammering in October's elections, leaving no bloc with enough seats to form its own government.

Tunisia Averts Crisis and Grudgingly Approves New Government

--With assistance from Souhail Karam.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jihen Laghmari in Tunis at jlaghmari@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Michael Gunn at mgunn14@bloomberg.net, Mark Williams

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