Islamic State claims responsibility for Tunisia museum attack
The Islamic State group has issued a statement claiming responsibility for the deadly attack on Tunisia’s national museum that killed 23 people, mostly tourists.
-
- Tourists and visitors from the Bardo museum are evacuated in Tunis, Wednesday, March 18, 2015 in Tunis, Tunisia. Gunmen opened fire at a leading museum in Tunisia’s capital, killing 19 people including 17 tourists, the Tunisian Prime Minister said. A later raid by security forces left two gunmen and one security officer dead but ended the standoff, Tunisian authorities said. (AP Photo/Hassene Dridi)
-
- Tunisian security forces secure the area after gunmen attacked Tunis’ famed Bardo Museum on March 18, 2015. At least seven foreigners and a Tunisian were killed in an attack by two men armed with assault rifles on the museum, the interior ministry said. (AFP Photo/Fethi Belaid)
-
- Tunisian security forces secure the area after gunmen attacked Tunis’ famed Bardo Museum on March 18, 2015. At least seven foreigners and a Tunisian were killed in an attack by two men armed with assault rifles on the museum, the interior ministry said. (AFP Photo/Fethi Belaid)
-
- Tunisian security forces secure the area after gunmen attacked Tunis’ famed Bardo Museum on March 18, 2015. At least seven foreigners and a Tunisian were killed in an attack by two men armed with assault rifles on the museum, the interior ministry said. (AFP Photo/Fethi Belaid)
-
- Armed Tunisian policemen in plainclothes stop a vehicle as security forces secure the area after gunmen attacked Tunis’ famed Bardo Museum on March 18, 2015. At least seven foreigners and a Tunisian were killed in an attack by two men armed with assault rifles on the museum, the interior ministry said. (AFP Photo/Fethi Belaid)
-
- Armed Tunisian policemen in plainclothes secure the area after gunmen attacked Tunis’ famed Bardo Museum on March 18, 2015. At least seven foreigners and a Tunisian were killed in an attack by two men armed with assault rifles on the museum, the interior ministry said. (AFP Photo/Fethi Belaid)
-
- An armed Tunisian policeman (R) in plainclothes stops a photographer as security forces secure the area after gunmen attacked Tunis’ famed Bardo Museum on March 18, 2015. At least seven foreigners and a Tunisian were killed in an attack by two men armed with assault rifles on the museum, the interior ministry said. (AFP Photo/Fethi Belaid)
-
- Tunisian security forces secure the area after gunmen attacked Tunis’ famed Bardo Museum on March 18, 2015. At least seven foreigners and a Tunisian were killed in an attack by two men armed with assault rifles on the museum, the interior ministry said. (AFP Photo/Fethi Belaid)
Thursday’s statement described the attack as a “blessed invasion of one of the dens of infidels and vice in Muslim Tunisia,” and appeared on a forum that carries messages from the group.
The U.S.-based SITE Intelligence Group also announced that IS had claimed Wednseday’s attack.
Tunisia’s presidency said earlier security forces had arrested 9 people in connection with the attack on the national museum.
A statement Thursday said that five of those arrested were directly connected to the operation, which involved two gunmen attacking the museum. Four others were linked to the attackers and were based outside the capital.
One of the gunmen who killed tourists and others at a prominent Tunisian museum was known to the intelligence services but no formal links to a particular extremist group had been established, the prime minister said Thursday.
The attack on the National Bardo Museum threatens both Tunisia’s fledgling democracy and its struggling tourism industry. It was the worst attack at a tourist site in Tunisia in years. – Tribune wire reports
Baltimore neighborhoods
Baltimore street photographers
Year in review
Freddie Gray: protests, aftermath
24 hours with...
A. Aubrey Bodine
Viewing Baltimore from above