Bardo National Museum attack

On 18 March 2015, two militants attacked the Bardo National Museum in the Tunisian capital city of Tunis, and took hostages. Twenty-one people, mostly European tourists, were killed at the scene, and an additional victim died ten days later. Around fifty others were injured.Death toll rises to 23
msn.com; accessed 19 March 2015. The two gunmen, Tunisian citizens Yassine Labidi and Saber Khachnaoui, were killed by police. Police treated the event as a terrorist attack.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) claimed responsibility for the attack, and threatened to commit further attacks. However, the Tunisian government blamed a local splinter group of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, called the Okba Ibn Nafaa Brigade, for the attack. A police raid killed nine members ten days later.

Background

Since the removal from power of longtime President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in the 2011 Tunisian Revolution, the country has faced occasional attacks from Islamist militants, mainly in remote areas. Tourism has been important to the nation's economy since its transition to democracy.

Attack

The morning of the attack, the cruise ships and docked at the Port of La Goulette. Some of the passengers on board the ships had decided to go to the Bardo Museum. At the time of the attack, more than 200 tourists were present in the vicinity.

The attack began at around 12:30 p.m. At that time, security guards protecting the museum and the nearby Parliament building were absent on a coffee break. The tourists were attacked as they were getting off a bus to enter the Bardo Museum compound. As scores of visitors ran toward the museum to avoid the shooting, the attackers pursued them and took them hostage inside. The siege lasted three hours, ending when security forces breached the building and killed two of the attackers. One policeman was fatally shot during the rescue operation.

Tunisian security forces escorted dozens of tourists up nearby steps and away from the danger, as armed agents pointed guns toward an adjacent building. Many tourists ran in panic to safety, including at least one couple carrying two children.

During the attack, members of Parliament were discussing counter-terrorist legislation when they were ordered to evacuate the building due to the sound of gunfire. They were later forced to lie down on the ground as security forces commenced the rescue operation of hostages.

Aftermath

According to analyst Rita Katz of the SITE Intelligence Group, holders of Twitter accounts associated with ISIL were overjoyed at the attack, urging Tunisians to "follow their brothers". The day following the attack, the Islamic State group issued a statement claiming responsibility for the incident and promising further attacks. Meanwhile, a Twitter account linked to the Islamic State published a photograph of one of the Italian victims; the image, showing Francesco Caldara, has a red cross drawn on it and the words: "Crusader Crushed."

Anti-terrorism protests began in central Tunis after the attack, with crowds reportedly chanting, "Tunisia is free, terrorism out." On 24 March, nearly a week after the attack, the museum held a ceremonial reopening. Simultaneously, thousands of Tunisians and tourists staged a march in Tunis to show their solidarity with the slain victims.

On 29 March, tens of thousands of demonstrators, along with French President François Hollande, Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, and several other world leaders, marched in Tunis under the slogan The World Is Bardo (''Le Monde est Bardo'') to protest terrorism.

Victims

When the attack ended, nineteen foreign tourists, including four Italians, three French nationals, three Japanese, three Polish nationals, two Spaniards, two Colombians (including one with dual Australian citizenship),Gunmen in Tunisia shoot dead tourists at National Bardo Museum
News.com.au. 19 March 2015 one Russian, and one British national were found to have been killed.L'attaque de Tunis, heure par heure, Libération
18 March 2015. A Tunisian police officer, and two perpetrators were also reported dead. On 28 March, an injured French woman, Huguette Dupeu, died of her wounds at a hospital.

Over 50 other people were injured, many of them foreign tourists. MSC Crociere S.A. reported that nine of its guests had been killed, and twelve were injured; six visitors, all from ''MSC Splendida'', including two Spaniards, one Belgian, one British national, one French national, and one Japanese were killed. The cruise company said that it would not schedule any further visits to the Port of La Goulette in 2015, choosing Malta as a replacement.

Perpetrators

Yassine Labidi and Saber Khachnaoui, both Tunisian citizens, were identified by Tunisian Prime Minister Habib Essid as the two slain gunmen a day after the attack. Prior to the attack, Labidi lived in the Tunis neighborhood of Ibn Khaldoun, while Khachnaoui was from Kasserine. Labidi moved after the Jasmine Revolution to Sfax for work, and lived there until his death. He worked as a deliveryman for a local business prior to the attack. While Labidi was known to intelligence services, neither of the two men had previously been positively linked to known Tunisian terrorist organisations.

An operation looking for up to three suspected accomplices was launched immediately following the attack. On the following day, nine people were arrested, four for direct links to the cell which carried out the shooting and five for having indirect links to it. Their roles in the attack have not yet been clarified. On 21 March, the number of people arrested reached over twenty, with ten accused of having direct links to the museum attack. On 26 March, authorities arrested twenty-three members of a terror cell linked to the attack.

According to BBC
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