Women and children were caught up in a police siege near the Tunisian capital Friday, with “terrorists” killing one officer in a firefight, ahead of Sunday’s parliamentary elections.
The confrontation at a home near Tunis erupted Thursday as security was tightened in the lead-up to the vote, the first since the nation’s 2011 revolution.
The government has ordered the deployment of tens of thousands of soldiers and police for polling day.
The Tunisian authorities gave no indication as to the identity of those involved in the ongoing siege, or whether they were members of any group.
The government said the gunmen were using the women and children as “human shields.”
Tunisia announced a three-day closure from Friday of the border with politically unstable Libya for fear of possible terrorist attacks on election weekend.
