Tunisia condemns 8 to death for presidential guard attack

A Tunisian court on Friday sentenced eight people to death in a trial for a 2015 attack on a presidential guard bus that killed 12.

The November 24, 2015 suicide bombing in the capital Tunis claimed by the Islamic State group (IS) killed a dozen presidential guards and wounded 20 more.

"The court issued the death sentence against eight people accused of participating in the attack against the presidential guards' bus," deputy public prosecutor Mohsen Dali told AFP on Saturday.

Two others were sentenced to 10 years and life imprisonment respectively, he said.

The convicted were all found guilty of "voluntary murder and belonging to terrorist groups," Dali said, without providing details about their identities.

Only four of those convicted appeared in person at the trial, with the rest sentenced in absentia.

Tunisia has imposed a moratorium on carrying out capital punishment since 1991.

IS claimed two other major attacks in Tunisia in 2015.

An attack at the capital's Bardo museum that March killed 21 foreign tourists and a security guard.

In June 2015, 38 foreign tourists were killed in a shooting rampage at the coastal resort of Sousse.

In February 2019, a Tunisian court sentenced seven to life imprisonment for the attacks on Bardo and Sousse.

Tunisia faced a rise in jihadist activity after its 2011 revolution, with attacks killing dozens of security personnel, civilians and foreign tourists.

While the security situation has significantly improved since the 2015 attacks, Tunisia has maintained a state of emergency for the last four years.