Islamic State claims responsibility for Tunisia museum attack

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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.

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