A pair of suicide bombers struck almost simultaneously in the Tunisian capital of Tunis today, killing at least one police officer and wounding several others, including passers-by, according to the Interior Ministry. The blasts came amid news that Tunisia’s 92-year-old President Beji Caid Essebsi was rushed to the hospital. The Tunisian presidency said Essebsi had suffered a severe health crisis, and Tunisian Prime Minister Youssef Chahed denied reports that the veteran secular politician had died.

One of the assailants blew himself up close to a security patrol near the French Embassy on Rue Charles de Gaulle, the Ministry of Interior confirmed, leaving a trail of body parts beside a bullet-riddled vehicle. The second bomber struck the headquarters of the counterterrorism headquarters in al-Qarjani district, wounding at least four people. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the bombings.

Why it matters: Tunisia will be holding critical parliamentary and presidential elections in October and November, respectively, which have already been marred by controversy arising from recent amendments to the country’s electoral laws perceived by critics as aimed at disqualifying recent frontrunners in opinion polls, notably Nabil Karoui and Olfa Terras.

Essebsi had said he would not run as president again, but his presence is widely seen as a calming force in the run-up to the polls. For all of his anti-Islamist rhetoric in recent months, he has quietly maintained a modus vivendi with the country’s most influential group, the pro-Islamic Ennahda — which shares power in government.