Gun Attack in Tunis Bardo museum Wednesday March 18,2015

  

Foreign tourists scrambled in panic Wednesday after militants stormed a museum in Tunisia's capital and killed 23 people, "shooting at anything that moved," a witness said.
Two gunmen were slain by security forces following the deadliest attack on civilians in the North African country in 13 years, and the president said the young democracy was embroiled in a war with terror.
The militants, who wore military-style uniforms and wielded assault rifles, burst from a vehicle and began gunning down tourists climbing out of buses at the National Bardo Museum. The attackers then charged inside to take hostages before being killed in a firefight with security forces.


Witnesses to the attach said the gunmen, carrying assault rifles, opened fire on tourists outside the museum in front of a row of buses before charging inside and taking hostages

According to Tunisian authorities, 23 people were killed - though it is not clear if totals provided by the authorities include the gunmen. Some of the countries involved have given different totals and not all the dead have been identified.

The dead include:

• At least three Tunisians, including a police officer involved in the security operation
• Five Japanese were killed, according to Mr Essid - although Japan says it has only confirmed the deaths of three citizens
• Four Italians
• Two Colombians
• Two Spaniards
• One national each from the UK, Australia, France and Poland

Prime Minister Habib Essid said the two Tunisian gunmen killed 17 tourists — five from Japan, four from Italy, two from Colombia, two from Spain, and one each from Australia, Poland and France

Two cruise companies - MSC Cruises and Costa Cruises -said they were suspending stopovers in Tunis
MSC said in a statement that at least nine of those killed had been passengers on its MSC Splendida cruise ship which was docked in Tunis. It said another 12 of its passengers were injured and six were still unaccounted for.
Costa said that three passengers from the Costa Fascinosa had died. Eight others were injured and two were unaccounted for, company CEO Michael Thamm said.

The attack is a huge blow for Tunisia's tourism industry and its government, which only emerged at the end of a long political transition several months ago

 

As Tunisia attempted to come to terms with the attack, a large anti-terrorism protest took place at the site of the attack.

People carried banners calling for peace and lit candles in memory of the dead.

One of two gunmen involved in the Bardo museum attack, named by Tunisian officials as Yassine Laabidi, was reportedly known to the authorities

Nine people have been arrested in connection with a gun attack in Tunis that saw 23 people killed on Wednesday, including 20 foreign tourists.

Tunisia's presidency said four of those arrested were directly linked to the attack and five had "ties to the cell".
The army will also be deployed to major cities, the presidency added.
In another development, Islamic State said it was behind the attack on the Bardo museum, using an audio message to praise two "knights of the caliphate".
The message, posted on Twitter accounts known to be reliable sources of IS propaganda, named the attackers as Abu-Zakariya al-Tunisi and Abu-Anas al-Tunisi.
A statement described the attack as a "blessed invasion of one of the dens of infidels and vice in Muslim Tunisia".

 Security is being heightened following the attack on the museum in Tunis

 

Note

It was the worst attack in the country since an al-Qaida militant detonated a truck bomb in front of a historic synagogue on the Tunisia's island of Djerba in 2002, killing 21, mostly German tourists.