On Monday, a police officer was stabbed outside the Brazilian embassy in Tunisia, according to local media reports.
Eyewitnesses told Reuters of an intensified police presence in the area as law enforcement personnel cordoned off the crime scene.
Well-informed sources confirmed that the attacker has been apprehended by stationed security forces outside the Brazilian embassy. Meanwhile, the injured police officer was immediately transferred to the Security Forces Hospital in the capital’s suburb of La Marsa.
Authorities are presently investigating the identity of the stabber, as disclosed by the same sources.
This incident comes less than a month after the Tunisian National Guard announced the arrest of a man accused of belonging to the ISIS terrorist group. The suspect was found in possession of explosive materials and reportedly planned “four concurrent terrorist attacks” in the country, timed ahead of the summer.
Tunisia has tightened its security measures following an assault carried out by a security official on May 9. The attack took place near the El Ghriba synagogue on the Tunisian island of Djerba, during the annual Jewish pilgrimage season.
The assault resulted in the deaths of three security officers and two dual citizens of Israeli-Tunisian and French-Tunisian heritage before police managed to neutralize the assailant.
In the aftermath, four individuals believed to be linked with the attacker were arrested and placed under preventive detention.