Tunisia: Tunisian President Kais Saied decided Friday to extend the state of emergency throughout the country for 6 months.

"President Saied decided to extend the state of emergency in the entire territory of the republic for a period of six months, starting from December 26, 2020 until June 23, 2021," said a presidency statement without giving further details.

The state of emergency in Tunisia was first declared on Nov. 24, 2015, following a deadly bomb attack on a bus of the presidential guards, killing 12 people. The statement did not provide any further details. The measure grants exceptional powers to the country's security forces.

Just few months before the state of emergency was declared, Tunisia on June 26, 2015, witnessed the deadliest non-state attack in the country's history when 38 people were killed after a gunman opened fire at a tourist resort in Port El Kantaoui, about 10 km north of the city of Sousse.

In March that year, 22 people, mostly tourists, were killed when three terrorists attacked the Bardo National Museum in the Tunisian capital city of Tunis.

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