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Tunisia Gunmen Target Tourism, Killing 19 at an Art Museum Tunisia Gunmen Kill 19 at Museum, Dealing a Blow to Tourism
(about 4 hours later)
CAIRO — Gunmen in military uniforms mounted a brazen midday attack on a museum in central Tunis on Wednesday, killing 19 people. The attack dealt a new blow to Tunisia’s pivotal tourist industry as the country struggles to consolidate its transition to democracy after the Arab Spring revolt. CAIRO — Gunmen in military uniforms killed 19 people on Wednesday in a midday attack on a museum in downtown Tunis, dealing a new blow to the tourist industry that is vital to Tunisia as it struggles to consolidate the only transition to democracy after the Arab Spring revolts.
Prime Minister Habib Essid said in a news conference that security forces killed two gunmen inside the building, the National Bardo Museum, but that two or three accomplices might still be at large. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, but supporters of the militant group Islamic State celebrated the attack in social media postings. Tunisian officials had initially said that the attackers took 10 hostages and killed nine people, including seven foreign visitors and two Tunisians. When security forces retook the museum about four hours later, however, the death toll more than doubled, raising questions about how and at what point the hostages had died.
Mr. Essid said that 17 foreign visitors were killed, including Polish, Italian, Spanish and German tourists, and that two Tunisians were killed, one of them a member of the security forces. At least 20 others were injured. Prime Minister Habib Essid said in a news conference that security forces had killed two gunmen inside the museum but that two or three accomplices might still be at large. He said 17 foreign visitors — including Polish, Italian, Spanish and German tourists — as well as two Tunisians, one of whom was a member of the security forces, had been killed in the attack. At least 22 others were injured.
Tunisian officials said earlier that the attackers had killed nine people and taken 10 hostages, but after security forces entered and retook the museum about three hours later, the death toll increased to 19, raising questions about how and when the 10 hostages had died. Mr. Essid urged national unity, calling the attack “the first operation of its kind ever to occur in Tunisia” because it struck the crucial tourist economy. “We will show no compassion and no mercy in defending our country,” he said.
Calling the attack “the first operation of its kind ever to occur in Tunisia” because it struck directly at the country’s crucial tourism industry, Mr. Essid urged Tunisians to unite against the terrorist threat. “We will show no compassion and no mercy in defending our country,” he said. The two gunmen killed were believed to be Tunisians, he said. Yet their identities and motivations were not immediately clear, and there was no claim of responsibility.
Mr. Essid said that the two gunmen who were killed were believed to be Tunisians, but their identity and motives were not immediately clear. Tunisia is the Arab world’s most successful democracy, and recently completed its first free presidential elections and a peaceful rotation of political power. But its security forces have also struggled to quash occasional attacks by Islamist extremists, especially in its mountains, and Tunisia has emerged as one of the biggest sources of foreign fighters joining the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, in Syria and Iraq.
Tunisia has made more progress in its transition from dictatorship to democracy than any other state in the Arab world, recently completing presidential and parliamentary elections and a peaceful handover of political power from one governing party to another. Democracy has provided new freedom of speech for the group’s recruiters, and it is easy to find young Tunisians captivated by promises of justice and opportunity as they struggle under the weight of an economy suffering from years of tumult and an abusive police force left over from the old authoritarian system.
But its security forces have also struggled to deal with periodic attacks by Islamist extremists. And Tunisia has emerged as one the biggest sources of foreign fighters joining the Islamic State militant group, also known as ISIS or ISIL, in Syria and Iraq. There was no specific evidence by Wednesday night linking the museum attack to the Islamic State, but its supporters circulated celebratory messages on social media, often citing a video released online in December.
The advent of democracy has provided new freedom for the group’s recruiters to preach their message, while the country struggles with an economy hobbled by years of tumult and with an abusive police force left over from the authoritarian system that broke down in 2011. It is easy to find young Tunisians who are captivated by the militants’ promises of justice and opportunity. In it, Boubakr Hakim, a Tunisian militant known as Abu Moqatel, urged support for the Islamic State, claimed responsibility for the earlier assassinations of two left-leaning Tunisian politicians, and warned of attacks to come. “You will not live in safety as long as Tunisia is not ruled by Islam,” he said.
No specific evidence had emerged by Wednesday night linking the museum attack to the Islamic State. But its supporters celebrated the attack on social media, citing a video posted online in December that warned of attacks to come. In the video, Boubakr Hakim, a Tunisian militant known as Abu Moqatel, urged support for the Islamic State, claimed responsibility for the assassinations of two left-leaning Tunisian politicians and warned, “You will not live in safety as long as Tunisia is not ruled by Islam.” Some reports said that Parliament, which convenes in a building adjacent to the museum in the historic Bardo district of the capital, had been debating legislation to combat terrorism as the attack began. Tunisian officials said Wednesday that attackers might have originally sought to target Parliament itself and then shifted to the adjacent museum, the National Bardo Museum, because of its less formidable security.
The Tunisian Parliament, whose building is near the museum in the historic medina, or ancient quarter, of the capital, was debating legislation to combat terrorism as the attack began. Security forces evacuated the building. Tunisian officials speculated on Wednesday that the Parliament might have been the attackers’ intended target. Gunshots were heard in the area at around 12:30 p.m., just as buses from cruise ships docked in the harbor were unloading hundreds of tourists, witnesses said. The two gunmen, moving easily through the crowds because of their uniforms, were armed with grenades and Kalashnikovs, officials said.
Instead, though, the attackers moved toward the museum at around 12:30 p.m., just as buses were unloading hundreds of tourists from cruise ships in the harbor, witnesses said. The two gunmen were dressed in military-style uniforms and were armed with grenades and assault rifles, officials said. Noriko Yuki, 35, a Japanese tourist, reached Tunis on Wednesday morning on a cruise from Italy with her mother, Nobuku. They heard bullets flying over their heads and dropped to the ground, the younger Ms. Yuki said, but one wounded her cheek.
Noriko Yuki, 35, a Japanese tourist who arrived in Tunis Wednesday morning on a cruise from Italy with her mother, said she heard bullets flying over their heads and swiftly dropped to the ground, but one grazed her cheek. “I started shaking my mother to see if she was alive, but she was not responding,” Ms. Yuki said in an interview at the hospital where she was taken by the police. “I lost track of her.”
“I started shaking my mother to see if she was alive, but she was not responding,” Ms. Yuki said in an interview at the hospital where she taken by the security forces. “I lost track of her.” Most of the crowds escaped. Military helicopters swooped overhead, the Parliament building was evacuated and the district was closed off. Video on state television showed terrified tourists crouching and scurrying out of a doorway and up a stairway, guided by heavily armed riot police. Both the police and tourists glanced nervously skyward, as though afraid of a gunman on a nearby rooftop.
The Italian Foreign Ministry said that three Italian citizens were among the dead and at least six were injured. Many of the cruise ship passengers were Italian, a cruise line spokesman said. Piero Fassino, the mayor of Turin, Italy, told Italian television that six City Hall workers were at the museum during the attack, but that only two had been heard from. “We are waiting for news with a certain anguish,” he said. The siege ended in the deaths of the two gunmen within four hours of the initial attack. But it now poses a new test of Tunisia’s democratic transition, coming less than five months after the election of the first Parliament and the first president since the 2011 ouster of Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, the longtime dictator.
The attack on the museum appeared to be the deadliest terrorist attack involving foreigners in Tunisia since 2002, when a truck filled with propane was detonated outside a synagogue on the island of Djerba, killing 21 people including some European tourists. Complaints about a failure to stop lesser attacks by Islamist extremists dogged Ennahda, the moderate Islamist party that led the constituent assembly elected after the revolution. The newly elected president, Beji Caid Essebsi, a former interior minister under the old autocracy who campaigned on the promise of a restoration of stability and a crackdown on extremism, and his anti-Islamist political faction won a plurality of the new Parliament.
The Bardo Museum houses a large collection of antiquities, including many important mosaics dating from the Roman and Carthaginian era, as well as Phoenician and Byzantine ceramics, statuary and jewelry, among other works. “This is one of the most important museums in North Africa,” said Mounir Bouchenaki, who heads the Arab Regional Center for World Heritage for Unesco, the United Nations cultural agency. The bloodshed on Wednesday raised fears that the new government might be tempted to turn back toward authoritarianism in its effort to stamp out terrorist threats. It also raised questions about whether Mr. Essebsi’s more-secular faction might now be blamed for failing to solve the problem more effectively than the Islamists who led the transition.
Militants have sometimes destroyed ancient cultural artifacts in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere that they deemed un-Islamic. But Unesco said in a statement Wednesday evening that there was no sign of damage to the Bardo Museum or its collection. Ennahda called for a public rally against terrorism on Wednesday evening and “a national conference to set a comprehensive counterterrorism strategy.” But in television appearances, its officials also criticized what they called a lack of transparency about the deaths of the hostages and the police operation.
The Bardo Museum houses a large collection of antiquities, including many important mosaics dating from the Roman and Carthaginian era, as well as Phoenician and Byzantine ceramics, statuary and jewelry.
In Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere, militants have sometimes destroyed ancient cultural artifacts that they deemed un-Islamic. But Unesco, the United Nations cultural agency, said in a statement Wednesday evening that there was no sign of damage to the museum or its collection.
The assault appeared to be the deadliest terror attack in Tunisia since 2002, when a truck filled with propane was detonated outside a synagogue on the island of Djerba. It killed 21 people, including some European tourists.
Since the revolution in 2011, the Tunisian authorities have struggled to eradicate Islamist militants in regions far from the coast, but the assault on Wednesday was especially damaging because European tourists are the lifeblood of the Tunisian economy and its main source of foreign currency.
The office of President François Hollande of France confirmed late Wednesday that two French citizens had died in the Tunis attack and that seven others were wounded.
A spokesman for the Italian Foreign Ministry said at least three Italians had been among those killed in the attack, and at least six had been wounded.
Piero Fassino, the mayor of Turin, Italy, told Italian television that six City Hall employees had been in Tunis, but that only two had been heard from. “We are waiting for news with a certain anguish,” he said.