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Main avenue in Tunisian capital closed against potential terrorist attack

Xinhua, September 8, 2015 Adjust font size:

A main street in downtown Tunis is closing due to potential terrorist attacks that intelligence shows would target the area, the Interior Ministry said on Monday.

Avenue Habib Bourguiba in the Tunisian capital will be closed to traffic from Wednesday morning until next Monday as a preventative security measure after intelligence sources unveiled that vital institutions in downtown Tunis are targeted by potential terrorist attacks.

The attacks would allegedly rely on explosive belts and car bombs.

Sources also said that troops and check points have been alerted about a potential attack.

In addition to its historic significance, the Habib Bourguiba Avenue was the theater of the protests in January 2011, in which Tunisia's former President Zine al Abidine Ben Ali was toppled.

Many significant buildings are located along the Habib Bourguiba Avenue, including the Interior Ministry building, the French Embassy, the largest cathedral in the country, and some other luxurious hotels and shopping malls.

Tunisia is currently under a state of emergency after President Beji Caid Essebsi declared on Aug. 3 to extend it for two more months.

In March, two Tunisians returning from Libya shot and killed 22 people in Tunisia' national Bardo Museum. In June, at least one gun man opened fire on a Tunisian beachside hotel in the popular resort of Sousse, killing dozens of people, including 30 British tourists. Endit