Nineteen people, including seventeen foreign tourists, were killed Wednesday, March 18 in an attack by armed men against the Bardo Museum in Tunis, the first deadly attack targeting foreigners since the Tunisian revolution .
“19 dead, including 17 tourists from Polish nationalities, Italian, German and Spanish,” said Tunisian Prime Minister Habib Essid.
Two armed men responsible for the attack and a policeman also died, according to the Tunisian national television that does not specify whether the attack was over.
“A policeman and two terrorists were killed, “said the state channel Wataniya 1. A police source confirmed to AFP the death of an agent of law enforcement.
The spokesman Tunisian Ministry of the Interior, Mohamed Ali Aroui, has not confirmed that a hostage was being, as discussed local media and the French Prime Minister Manuel Valls. But “there are reports that there are still tourists” inside, said the spokesman.
“terrorist attack,” the spokesman, the country key pioneer of the Arab Spring, which, unlike other states who have experienced protest movements in 2011, has so far escaped a wave of violence or repression.
A hundred tourists in
One hundred tourists were in the museum when “two or more men, armed with Kalashnikovs” attacked the Bardo Museum, the most famous of the city.
“Most tourists were evacuated “and” anti-terrorist units entered the museum, “said the spokesman, adding that the area was cordoned off.
A French tourist evacuated by the security forces told the French TV channel i-Tele she had with a group of French tourists “strike” in a room on the first floor of the museum when the shooting erupted. She described initially fired inside the museum, and then on the outside.
The Tunisian authorities have not disclosed the nationality of the dead.
According to Claude Bartolone, the President of the National Assembly, a French fact “certainly” among the victims. The Italian Foreign Ministry, quoted by Italian agencies reported that two Italians were injured and hundreds brought to safety by the Tunisian security forces after the attack against the museum in Tunis. Present tourists traveling with Costa cruise line.
“Panic is huge”
The President of the Republic, Beji Caid Essebsi, will address the Tunisians, told the AFP spokesman of the presidency, Moez Sinaoui. Prime Minister Habib Essid was on his side met with the Ministers of Interior and Defense.
This attack “is our economy,” said on Radio Mosaique FM Mohsen Marzouk, the political advisor of the President, referring to the importance of the tourism sector for Tunisia. “But do not we let this one affect us. And I am sure that the world will keep its trust in us,” he added.
According to AFP journalists, significant police reinforcements have taken place around the Parliament and of the museum.
National television showed images of the evacuation of Tunisian and foreign power under the protection of law enforcement.
The Bardo Museum, which houses an outstanding collection of mosaics, is next to the Parliament, where the work was suspended after the shooting.
“The panic is huge,” wrote the Sayida Ounissi MP on Twitter, stating that the shooting took place “in full hearing of the armed forces in anti-terrorism law.
” In addition to deputies, the Minister of Justice, judges and several executives of the army were there, “she said.
2000-3000 Tunisian jihadists
Since the January 2011 revolution, Tunisia has emerged a jihadist movement responsible for the deaths of dozens of police and soldiers, officials said.
Linked to Al Qaeda, the Okba Ibn Nafaâ Phalanx is considered the main jihadist group in Tunisia, active in the region Mount Chaambi, on the border with Algeria.
2000-3000 Tunisians also would fight in the ranks of foreign jihadists, Syria, Iraq and Libya. Five hundred other Tunisian jihadists are in turn returned home, police said, and are considered one of the greatest threats to the security of Tunisia.
Tunisians fighting with the Islamic state group (EI), very active in Syria and Iraq have also threatened their homeland in recent months.
According to EI, a Tunisian participated in the assault against the Corinthia Hotel in Tripoli killed 9 in January, and another led a suicide attack in Benghazi, Libya’s second city.
Tunisians fighting with the IE have also threatened their homeland in recent months.
In April 2002, a suicide attack against a synagogue in Djerba (south) had 16 deaths among foreign –14 Germans and two French – and five Tunisians. In June, the spokesman of Al-Qaeda claimed the attack.
A hostage condemned by Valls and Holland
The French Prime Minister Manuel Valls condemned Wednesday “with the utmost firmness” the attack against the Bardo Museum.
“There was a hostage situation undoubtedly affected tourists killed,” said Mr Valls in a press conference in Brussels, adding that the “terrorist attack (…) cruelly illustrates the threats we all face in Europe, the Mediterranean, the world.”
President François Holland meanwhile expressed “solidarity of France” to his Tunisian counterpart.
Tunisia faced since the revolution of January 2011 in the growth of a jihadist movement army.
Sixty policemen and soldiers were killed in armed clashes, especially near the Algerian border, where an armed group linked to al Qaeda is active.
(With AFP)
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