Five killed in attack near synagogue on Tunisia's Djerba island

Gunman fatally shot by security forces before he could reach pilgrimage site

Security forces secure the area near Ghriba Synagogue after a shooting on Tunisia's resort island of Djerba. AFP

Five people, including three security personnel, were killed in a gun attack near a synagogue on the Tunisian island of Djerba on Tuesday night.

Eight people, including four police officers, were injured in the incident close to Ghriba Synagogue — also known as the Djerba Synagogue — which is a popular place of pilgrimage.

Hundreds of people were in the area at the time of the attack, as the annual pilgrimage to the historic synagogue was drawing to a close for the night.

The country's Ministry of Interior said a guard affiliated to the Tunisian National Guard naval centre in the port town of Aghir killed a colleague and then headed for Ghriba Synagogue.

Once near there, he opened fire on security units. A police officer and two civilians were killed.

Security personnel shot dead the gunman before he could reach the synagogue, said officials.

A second police officer died on Wednesday morning as a result of injuries sustained in the shooting, state news agency Tap reported.

Two of the four injured officers remain in critical condition. One will be transferred to the Military Hospital in the capital Tunis after suffering a brain haemorrhage.

The civilians killed were cousins. Both were Tunisians — one also held French citizenship and the second had Israeli citizenship, said officials.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday morning they were “two Jewish cousins, one with Israeli citizenship and the other with foreign citizenship”.

The cousins were on their way to watch a European Champions League game at a nearby cafe when the assailant attacked, former Tunisian tourism minister Rene Trabelsi told Mosaique FM.

Tunisia's Interior Ministry confirmed that the synagogue had been cordoned off and the area secured.

“The search is continuing to find out the reasons for this treacherous and cowardly attack,” the ministry said.

US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller condemned the attack on Twitter on Wednesday morning.

“We express condolences to the Tunisian people and commend the rapid action of Tunisian security forces,” he said.

The French Foreign Ministry also reacted to the attack.

“France condemns this heinous act, perpetrated during the annual Jewish pilgrimage, and which painfully echoes the suicide attack that killed 21 people in this same synagogue in 2002,” the ministry said.

“We welcome the rapid intervention of the Tunisian security forces and we stand alongside Tunisia to continue the fight against anti-Semitism and all forms of fanaticism.”

The annual pilgrimage to Africa's oldest synagogue — said to date back 2,500 years — regularly draws hundreds of Jews from Europe and Israel to Djerba, a major holiday resort off southern Tunisia, about 500km from the capital, Tunis.

The pilgrimage site has been under tight security since Al Qaeda militants bombed the synagogue in 2002, killing 21 tourists.

Tunisia, a mostly Muslim country, is home to one of North Africa's largest Jewish communities.

Although there are now fewer than 1,800 members of the community, Jews have lived in Tunisia since Roman times.