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Tunisia’s
prime minister says 17 tourists have been killed following a siege by two armed
militants at a museum in the capital Tunis. Prime Minister Habib Essid said the
standoff, in which a policeman and a Tunisian also lost their lives, was over.
The
approximately three-hour attack and hostage siege took place at the Bardo
Museum in the country’s capital. Seventeen tourists lost their lives, while one
Tunisian, believed to be a janitor working in the museum, and a policemen were
also killed. The crisis concluded when security forces stormed the building -
next to the Tunisian parliament - and killed the two gunmen.
Prime Minister Essid was also able to confirm that Italian, German, Polish and
Spanish tourists were amongst those killed in the attack on the museum
according to Reuters. He also added that another 22 tourists were injured as
well as two Tunisian men.
The
Tunisian Prime Minister also added that the security forces are still looking
for two or three people who may have helped the gunmen.
Ahmad Fadli, who witnessed the events unfolding and is a correspondent for the
Al-Tunisia newspaper, said the militants were wearing soldiers uniforms.
“I was situated exactly opposite
the Bardo Museum. A few people in military uniforms returned towards the museum
and started shooting and took hostages,” Fadli said.
“There are at least two gunmen,
though there maybe more. The two were seen with Kalashnikov rifles rushing into
the building,” the Tunisian journalist added.
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Interior of the Bardo
National Museum in Tunis, Tunisia. Nicolas de Camaret / Flickr
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Poland's
Foreign Ministry had earlier said that three Polish nationals had been injured
in the attack. Meanwhile, Al Arabiya said eight wounded people have been taken
out of the building.
The militants had entered the museum through the country’s parliament in Tunis,
which was also in session. MPs managed to reach safety and the building was
evacuated as a precaution. Both the parliament and the museum are located in
Bardo Palace.
Around
200 people were believed to have been in the museum when the gunmen struck.
Local reports said that 160 tourists were rescued from the building via a back
door, while around 20 to 30 were still in the building as the siege continued.
A picture on Facebook taken during the hostage crisis showed what seemed to be
a security officer, who was escorting the museum visitors to safety. There were
a number of children present, as the attack occurred during a Tunisian school
holiday.
EU Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini called for confronting “terrorist organizations,”
blaming them for the deadly attack on Wednesday.
"With the attack that has
struck Tunis today, the terrorist organizations are once again targeting the
countries and peoples of the Mediterranean region,"
Mogherini said in a statement. "This strengthens our
determination to cooperate more closely with our partners to confront the
terrorist threat."
The
French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said that his country would be standing by
the Tunisian government in the wake of the tragedy, which killed 19 people.
"We are condemning this
terrorist attack in the strongest terms,"
Valls said speaking after a meeting with European Commission President
Jean-Claude Juncker in Brussels.
"We are standing by the
Tunisian government. We are very alert about how the situation is evolving,"
he added, according to Reuters.
The Bardo Museum has a major collection of Roman mosaics and other antiquities
from ancient Greece and North Africa. It was the second museum to be founded in
Africa and traces the history of Tunisia over thousands of years, and through
numerous civilizations.
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