Tunisia’s interior ministry said in a statement: “A security man killed his colleague in Djerba, before he opened fire indiscriminately near the Ghriba temple.”
The statement added: “The operation resulted in the injury of 6 security guards with injuries of varying severity, one of whom died, and 2 visitors died, and 4 other people were injured of varying severity, and they were taken to hospital for treatment.”
And the Tunisian Interior Ministry confirmed: “The temple has been sealed off and everyone inside and outside has been secured.”
The statement concludes by saying that investigations “continue to uncover the reasons for this treacherous and cowardly attack.”
The annual visiting season at the Ghriba Synagogue, the oldest synagogue in Africa, draws hundreds of Jews from Europe and Israel to the island of Djerba, which is a major tourist resort off the coast of southern Tunisia, 500 km from the capital, Tunis.
Security has been tightened for Jewish visits since an al-Qaeda militant attacked the synagogue in 2002 with a truck bomb, killing 21 Western tourists.
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