Summary:

On 3 July 2023, a member of the national guard was stabbed multiple times by an assailant in La Goulette, only weeks after a similar stabbing at the Brazilian Embassy in Tunis.

Despite receiving multiple stab wounds, the national guardsman did not appear to have life-threatening injuries and was in stable condition, according to the Ministry of the Interior.

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The assailant was arrested immediately with no additional information about the motive for the attack being released by security officials.

In addition to the recent stabbing at the Brazilian Embassy, which led to the death of the victim, another stabbing death took place in Sfax during a confrontation between sub-Saharan African migrants and local residents. The incident left one Tunisian dead and led to the arrest of three sub-Saharan African migrants.

In early-May, an attacker killed several people near the al-Ghriba synagogue on Djerba island in southern Tunisia.

Outlook:  

As tourism continues making a strong recovery, Tunisian authorities have worked hard to maintain security and to distance the recent attacks from any connection to terrorism.

Rumors of conspiracy have swirled on Tunisian social media, however, the attacks appear largely unconnected and of a lone-wolf nature rather than part of a coordinated effort. Lone-wolf attacks are some of the hardest to predict and prevent as they are often the product of an individual’s particular socio-economic and mental health situation.

As Tunisia grapples with an ongoing economic crisis and a growing sense of political disenfranchisement, individual instances of violence are likely to continue. Our team is continuing to closely track trends in violence and crime for potential indicators of how the security environment is evolving in Tunisia.

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