A wanted militant blew himself up with an explosive belt in the Tunisian capital after a confrontation with police, the government said on Wednesday.
No other casualties were reported.
Interior Ministry spokesman Sofiène Zaâg told private Radio Mosaique that officers surrounded the wanted militant, Aymen Smiri, in the suburban Tunis neighborhood of Intilaka and opened fire.
“Following a long chase, special forces surrounded the terrorist,” the interior ministry said in statement. “When forces began shooting, he blew himself up with an explosive belt he was wearing.”
The third such incident within a week comes months ahead of an election and at the peak of a tourist season.
Two suicide bombers blew themselves up in separate attacks on police in Tunis on Thursday, killing one police officer and wounding several people. The ISIS terrorist group claimed responsibility for both attacks.
Tunisia has been battling militant groups operating in remote areas near its border with Algeria since an uprising overthrew leader Zine Abidine Ben Ali in 2011. High unemployment has also stoked unrest in recent years.
Last October, a woman blew herself up in the center of Tunis, wounding 15 people, including 10 police officers, in an explosion that shattered a long period of calm after dozens of people died in militant attacks in 2015.
Security has tightened since authorities imposed a state of emergency in November 2015 after those attacks, one at a museum in Tunis and another on a beach in the Mediterranean seaside town of Sousse. A third attack targeted presidential guards in the capital. ISIS claimed responsibility.
