State of emergency declared in Tunisia following deadly explosion on bus

Tunisian police officers near the scene of the explosion.
(Image credit: Fethi Belaid/AFP/Getty Images)

At least 12 members of the president's security guard were killed and 20 injured Tuesday evening in Tunis after an explosion ripped through a bus.

Tunisian President Béji Caïd Essebsi called it a "cowardly terrorist attack," and declared a 30-day state of emergency and a nightly curfew starting at 9 p.m. Witnesses said they heard an explosion and saw the bus go up in flames, and a source told Reuters the blast was likely caused by a suicide bomber. "We're going into this war with everything we have," Essebsi said in a televised address after the attack. "Victory will always be on Tunisia's side."

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.