Tunisia extends nationwide state of emergency for another month

Tunisia has extended for another month a nationwide state of emergency imposed across the North African country following a deadly bomb attack in November last year.

"The President of the Republic, Beji Caid Essebsi, decided on Monday ... to proclaim again the state of emergency across (Tunisian) territory for a month starting from June 21, 2016," the president's office said in a statement.

The statement added that the decision was made in consultation with government and parliamentary officials.

The state of emergency empowers the authorities to prohibit gatherings and strikes that might fuel unrest. It also permits the officials to close entertainment venues and censor the press.

The emergency was originally imposed on November 24, 2015 after a bomb attack by Daesh Takfiri terrorist group on a bus carrying presidential guards killed 12 people in the capital city of Tunis.

Following the attack, President Essebsi said Tunis was at “war against terrorism.”

In June the same year, an assailant armed with a rifle killed 38 people, mostly foreign tourists, on a beach in the Tunisian resort town of Sousse.

The attack came more than a month after two militants stormed the Bardo Museum in the capital and shot dead 21 people, mainly foreign tourists.

SS