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 .

Source:- AFP

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