One dead, several hurt in fire at HQ of Tunisia's Ennahdha party

One person died and several others were injured including two leading figures from Tunisia's Islamist-inspired Ennahdha party in a fire at its headquarters Thursday, the party said.

Ennahdha said on Facebook that one of its "activists" died in the blaze.

Tunisian media cited judiciary sources as saying the person had "set himself ablaze on the ground floor" of the building.

The movement's Vice President Ali Laaryadh and advisory board head Abdelkarim Harouni were both hospitalised after jumping from the second floor of the building to escape the flames, party members said.

An AFP correspondent saw smoke pouring out of the windows of the building in central Tunis as people clambered out.

The party's president Rached Ghannouchi, speaker of Tunisia's suspended parliament, was not in the building at the time, party official Mondher Lounisi said.

Ennahdha, a banned opposition movement under dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, has been the largest force in Tunisia's parliament since shortly after the country's 2011 revolution.

It played a central role in national politics until President Kais Saied sacked the government, suspended the assembly and seized a string of powers on July 25.

The blaze came three days after the party warned it was facing an orchestrated "defamation" campaign aimed at shutting it out of national politics.