Gunmen wearing military uniforms stormed Tunisia’s national museum
on Wednesday, killing 17 foreign tourists and two Tunisians in one of the worst
militant attacks in a country that had largely escaped the region’s “Arab
Spring” turmoil.
Five Japanese
as well as visitors from Italy, Poland and Spain were among the dead in the
noon assault on Bardo museum inside the heavily guarded parliament compound in
central Tunis, Prime Minister Habib Essid said.
“They just
started opening fire on the tourists as they were getting out of the buses…
I couldn’t see anything except blood and the dead,” the driver of a
tourist coach told journalists at the scene.
Scores of
visitors fled into the museum and the militants – who authorities did not
immediately link to any extremist group – took hostages inside, officials said.
Security forces entered around two hours later, killed two militants and freed
the captives, a government spokesman said. A police officer died in the
operation.
The attack on
such a high-profile target is a blow for the small North African country that
relies heavily on European tourism and has mostly avoided major militant
violence since its 2011 uprising to oust autocrat Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
Several Islamist
militant groups have emerged in Tunisia since the uprising, and authorities
estimate about 3,000 Tunisians have also joined fighters in Iraq and Syria –
igniting fears they could return and mount attacks at home.
“All
Tunisians should be united after this attack which was aimed at destroying the
Tunisian economy,” Prime Minister Essid declared in a national address.
The local stock
exchange dropped nearly 2.5 percent and two German tour operators said they
were cancelling trips from Tunisia’s beach resorts to Tunis for a few days.
Accor, Europe’s
largest hotel group, said it had tightened security at its two hotels in
Tunisia.
US Secretary of
State John Kerry joined leaders from Europe condemning the attack and said
Washington continued “to support the Tunisian government’s efforts to
advance a secure, prosperous, and democratic Tunisia.”
Television
footage showed dozens of people, including elderly foreigners and one man
carrying a child, running for shelter in the museum compound, covered by security
forces aiming rifles into the air.
The Tunisian
premier said 17 tourists were killed, including four Italians, a French
citizen, a Pole, two Colombians, five Japanese, an Australian and two
Spaniards. He had previous mentioned a German fatality, but did not mention
that in later statements. Two Tunisians were killed.
The museum is
known for its collection of ancient Tunisian artifacts and mosaics and other
treasures from classical Rome and Greece. There were no immediate reports that
the attackers had copied ISIL militants in Iraq by targeting exhibits seen by
hardliners as idolatrous.
Bardo’s
white-walled halls set in the parliament compound are one of the most popular
tourist attractions in the Tunisian capital. Many tourists come for day trips
to Tunis from nearby Mediterranean beach resorts.
Shocked but
defiant, hundreds of Tunisians later gathered in the streets of downtown Tunis
waving the country’s red and white crescent flag, and chanting against
terrorism.
“I pass
this message to Tunisians, that democracy will win and it will survive,”
President Beji Caid Essebsi said in a television statement. “We will find
more ways and equipment for the army to wipe out these barbarous groups for
good.”
Tunisia’s
uprising inspired “Arab Spring” revolts in neighbouring Libya and in
Egypt, Syria and Yemen. But its adoption of a new constitution and staging of
largely peaceful elections had won widespread praise and stood in stark
contrast to the chaos that has plagued those countries.
After a crisis
between secular leaders and the Islamist party which won the country’s first
post-revolt election, Tunisia has emerged as a model of compromise politics and
transition to democracy for the region.
But the attack
comes at a challenging time with Tunisia planning to reform its economy and
cutback on public spending. Tourism represents around 7 percent of the gross
domestic product.
Security forces
have already clashed with some Islamist militants, including Ansar al-Sharia
which is listed as a terrorist group by Washington. But until Wednesday most
attacks were in remote areas, often near the border with Algeria.
Another group
is holed up in the mountains along the Algerian border where the army has spent
months trying to destroy their camps.
Affiliates of ISIL
militants fighting in Iraq and Syria have also been gaining ground in North
Africa, especially in the chaotic environment of Tunisia’s neighbour Libya,
where two rival governments are battling for control.
A senior
Tunisian militant was killed while fighting for ISIL in the Libyan city of
Sirte over the past week. Security sources said he had been operating training
camps and logistics.
“An attack
like this could strike the fragile transition in Tunisia, especially the
tourism industry,” said local political analyst Nourredine Mbarki.
“The problem is now these groups have gone from being in mountains and
borders to hit the capital and targets with high security.”
Wednesday’s
assault was the worst attack involving foreigners in Tunisia since an Al Qaeda
suicide bombing on a synagogue killed 21 people on the tourist island of Djerba
in 2002.
The most recent
attack on the tourism industry in 2013 when a militant blew himself up at the
Tunisian beach resort of Sousse, but no one else was killed or wounded. Another
bomber was caught at a presidential monument before he blew himself up.
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