TUNIS: A Tunisian court has condemned to death two nationals of the North African country for a 2020 suicide attack that killed a policeman near the United States embassy, local media said Tuesday.
The penalty would amount to life in prison, the reports said, as Tunisia has had a moratorium on executions for more than 30 years.
The accused were not identified.
Two suicide bombers riding a scooter died in the blast on March 6, 2020 when they detonated their explosives at a police van near the heavily fortified embassy in a Tunis suburb.
Aside from the policeman killed, four other officers and a civilian were wounded.
It was among a string of deadly jihadist attacks that killed dozens of security personnel, civilians and foreign tourists in the country after its 2011 revolution.
Authorities in more recent years say they have made significant progress in the struggle against jihadists.
Five people were arrested for the attack near the embassy.
A specialist anti-terrorism court condemned two of the accused to death and a third to life in prison, the Tunisian media reports said. They added that the other two accused received prison terms of three and four years.
The spokesman for the Tunis prosecutor’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
Tunisia court sentences two to death over deadly blast near US embassy
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Tunisia court sentences two to death over deadly blast near US embassy
- A specialist anti-terrorism court condemned two of the accused to death and a third to life in prison
Algeria inaugurates strategic railway to giant Sahara mine
- The mine is expected to produce 4 million tons per year during the initial phase, with production projected to triple to 12 million tons per year by 2030
- The project is financed by the Algerian state and partly built by a Chinese consortium
ALGEIRS: Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune on Sunday inaugurated a nearly 1,000-kilometer (621-mile) desert railway to transport iron ore from a giant mine, a project he called one of the biggest in the country’s history.
The line will bring iron ore from the Gara Djebilet deposit in the south to the city of Bechar located 950 kilometers north, to be taken to a steel production plant near Oran further north.
The project is financed by the Algerian state and partly built by a Chinese consortium.
During the inauguration, Tebboune described it as “one of the largest strategic projects in the history of independent Algeria.”
This project aims to increase Algeria’s iron ore extraction capacity, as the country aspires to become one of Africa’s leading steel producers.
The iron ore deposit is also seen as a key driver of Algeria’s economic diversification as it seeks to reduce its reliance on hydrocarbons, according to experts.
President Tebboune attended an inauguration ceremony in Bechar, welcoming the first passenger train from Tindouf in southern Algeria and sending toward the north a first charge of iron ore, according to footage broadcast on national television.
The mine is expected to produce 4 million tons per year during the initial phase, with production projected to triple to 12 million tons per year by 2030, according to estimates by the state-owned Feraal Group, which manages the site.
It is then expected to reach 50 million tons per year in the long term, it said.
The start of operations at the mine will allow Algeria to drastically reduce its iron ore imports and save $1.2 billion per year, according to Algerian media.
