Man arrested after stabbing Tunisian national guard officer

Victim in a stable condition in hospital after attack in La Goulette

Police officers stand guard outside the Brazilian Embassy in Tunis after a similar stabbing last month. EPA

Police near Tunis arrested a man on Monday after he stabbed a Tunisian national guard officer, the second attack to take place in as many weeks.

Officers quickly detained the suspect, the Interior Ministry said.

No reason was given for the attack, which took place in the city's La Goulette suburb.

The national guard officer was taken to a hospital and is in a stable condition.

A police officer died in mid-June after being stabbed in an unexplained attack outside the Brazilian embassy in the capital.

At the time, ministry spokesman Faker Bouzghaya said the suspect was not known to police and there was no apparent terrorist motive for the attack.

The country has been hit by several terrorist attacks in recent years, the most recent of which left five dead near a Djerba synagogue in March.

Three security personnel were among those killed in the attack, which targeted the popular pilgrimage site as hundreds flocked to the synagogue.

It was the second attack to target the synagogue, where Al Qaeda militants killed 21 people in a 2002 bombing.

Terrorist attacks have also crippled the country's tourism sector, a vital part of its economy.

Dozens of people, mostly foreign tourists, were killed in separate attacks in 2015, in the coastal city of Sousse and a museum in Tunis.