A TUNISIAN POLICEMAN was shot dead today by two assailants on a motorbike in the coastal resort of Sousse where a jihadist gunman killed 38 tourists in June.

“Unknown assailants fired on three policemen on a road. One of them was hit and died in hospital,” Rafik Chelly, secretary of state for national security, told AFP.

“An investigation is under way. We can’t say any more,” Chelly said. He was unable to clarify if the attack was the work of jihadists.

An interior ministry spokesman said the two other policemen were unharmed, contrary to an earlier report.

The incident took place seven kilometres (five miles) from Sousse, he said, adding police were hunting the assailants who fled.

The targeted policemen were waiting by the side of the road for a ride to a town in central Tunisia, according to local media.

State of emergency

The attack came less than two months after a jihadist gunman killed 30 Britons and eight other foreign tourists, including three Irish people, on a beach in Sousse in an attack claimed by Islamic State (IS).

Tunisia has been under a state of emergency in the wake of the 26 June massacre which followed an attack by gunmen on the Bardo museum in Tunis that killed 21 foreign tourists and a policeman.

IS also claimed responsibility for the 18 March museum attack, and extra troops have been posted at tourist sites since the beach killings.

Tunisia has since its 2011 revolution faced an upsurge in jihadist violence that has cost the lives of dozens of soldiers and police, with most attacks claimed by Al-Qaeda’s North African branch.

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