The Tunisian Ministry of Interior confirmed today, Sunday, the killing of a security man and the serious injury of another in a car ramming and stabbing attack carried out by 3 members, whom they described as terrorists, with a car at the El Kantaoui junction in the tourist area of ​​the coastal state of Sousse.

The ministry said, in a statement, that 3 operatives who participated in the run-over operation were eliminated after combing the site of the operation and exchanging fire with them.

"The security units turned from various wires and undertook a combing operation at the site of the operation, besieging the terrorist elements and exchanging fire with them, which resulted in the elimination of the three terrorists," she added.

Al-Jazeera correspondent in Tunisia, Maysa Al-Fatnasi, said that there is a change in the official account indicating that the armed elements were on board a four-wheel drive vehicle, and approached the two security forces in order to run them over, then confronted them with white weapons and stabbed them, and the pursuit began, which did not last long and ended with the elimination of the militants. Three.

Prime Minister Hisham Mechichi inspected the site of the attack, accompanied by Interior Minister Tawfiq Sharaf al-Din.

In a media statement, Al-Meshishi said that the terrorists made a mistake again, and their messages faced black men from various security formations with the highest levels of vigilance, alertness and readiness, as they were eliminated in a few minutes, according to the official news agency.

Al-Mashishi stated that the security units had arrested a fourth member suspected of having links with the terrorist operation, and indicated that the security services are continuing to investigate the possibility of these elements' involvement in terrorist organizations.

Statements and condemnation

For his part, President of the Republic, Qais Saeed, said that the perpetrators of the criminal operations will not confuse the state, and during his visit to the site of the security operation in the city of Sousse, he called for the protection of the security forces on the fronts, through laws and legislation.

Saeed considered that those who instructed the militants to carry out this terrorist operation are more criminal than they are, and they will bear responsibility before God, the people and history.

In the context of the reactions, the Ennahda Movement strongly condemned the run-over operation that targeted a security patrol in the tourist area of ​​El Kantaoui, Sousse Governorate, and anyone standing behind it inside or outside the country.

In a statement it issued, the movement affirmed that what it described as treacherous and cowardly operations will only increase Tunisians cohesion, solidarity and adherence to civil peace, calling on Parliament to accelerate consideration of a bill against attacks on the armed forces.

Many challenges

This incident comes two days after the Mishichi government took over its duties to succeed the resigned government of Ilyas Fakhfakh, which highlights the size of the security challenges facing the country, which is already suffering from aggravating social and economic problems.

It is noteworthy that Sousse was subjected to a bloody attack five years ago when an ISIS operative opened fire on foreign tourists on a beach, killing 39 of them.

The attack severely affected the main tourism sector of the country's economy.

Foreign diplomats say Tunisia has become more effective in preventing and dealing with militant attacks in recent years.

Tunisia has relatively succeeded in reducing the threat of armed groups, especially on the borders with Algeria and Libya, but the sleeper cells still pose a real threat to the country, especially with the return of "jihadists" from Syria, Iraq and Libya.