Tunisia names bus suicide bomber

The suspected suicide bomber who killed 12 people in an attack on a presidential guards bus in Tunis has been named as 26-year-old Hossam bin al-Hadi.

Tunisia has identified a suicide bomber who killed 12 people in an attack on a bus carrying presidential guards earlier this week.

The Interior Ministry on Thursday said the attacker was named Hossam bin al-Hadi, a 26-year-old Tunisian man.

He was a native of a poor area known for ultra-conservative Salafists in the province of Manouba near the capital Tunis, it said in a statement.

The ministry said 30 other people had been detained in connection with Tuesday's attack in central Tunis.

The Islamic State terrorist group has claimed responsibility for the bombing that prompted President Beji Caid Essibsi to reimpose a state of emergency in the country.

Tunisia is struggling against a surge in Islamist militancy.

The bombing was the third major attack this year by suspected jihadist militants to hit Tunisia - widely seen as the sole democratic success story of the 2010-11 Arab uprisings.

Attacks targeting foreign tourists at the capital's Bardo museum in March and the beach resort of Sousse in June killed 60 people.

Islamic State claimed responsibility for those two attacks too.


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Source: AAP


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