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| No Links Seen Between Terrorists and Gunmen in Tunisia Museum Attack, Premier Says | No Links Seen Between Terrorists and Gunmen in Tunisia Museum Attack, Premier Says |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| CAIRO — Neither of the two gunmen killed in the deadly attack on a museum in Tunis on Wednesday has been linked to any known terrorist group, although one had previously caught the attention of the Tunisian intelligence services, Prime Minister Habib Essid said on Thursday. | CAIRO — Neither of the two gunmen killed in the deadly attack on a museum in Tunis on Wednesday has been linked to any known terrorist group, although one had previously caught the attention of the Tunisian intelligence services, Prime Minister Habib Essid said on Thursday. |
| Officials have identified the gunmen, who killed 19 people in a midday attack on the National Bardo Museum, as Yassine Laabidi and Hatem Khachnaoui. | Officials have identified the gunmen, who killed 19 people in a midday attack on the National Bardo Museum, as Yassine Laabidi and Hatem Khachnaoui. |
| Mr. Essid said that the Tunisian authorities were working with other governments to learn more about the backgrounds and motives of the two gunmen. | Mr. Essid said that the Tunisian authorities were working with other governments to learn more about the backgrounds and motives of the two gunmen. |
| Mr. Laabidi had already been identified by the Tunisian intelligence agencies, but not for “anything special,” Mr. Essid said in an interview with the French radio station RTL, The Associated Press reported. | |
| Tunisian officials said security forces were searching for accomplices in the attack. | |
| Tunisia, the lone success of the Arab Spring revolt, is seeking to consolidate its transition to democracy after the uprising that removed the longtime strongman Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali four years ago. | Tunisia, the lone success of the Arab Spring revolt, is seeking to consolidate its transition to democracy after the uprising that removed the longtime strongman Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali four years ago. |
| The government has struggled to defeat Islamist militant groups based mainly in the area around Mount Chaambi, near the Algerian border. Over the past year, Tunisia has emerged as a leading source of foreign fighters joining the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, in its battles in Syria and Iraq. | The government has struggled to defeat Islamist militant groups based mainly in the area around Mount Chaambi, near the Algerian border. Over the past year, Tunisia has emerged as a leading source of foreign fighters joining the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, in its battles in Syria and Iraq. |
| Supporters of the Islamic State celebrated the attack in Tunis, circulating online a video from December that warned in general terms of violence to come. In the video, a prominent Tunisian militant, Boubakr Hakim, a Tunisian militant known as Abu Moqatel, claimed responsibility for the assassination of two left-leaning politicians and urged his countrymen to take up arms for the Islamic State. | |
| “You will not live in safety as long as Tunisia is not ruled by Islam,” he said, condemning the vast majority of Tunisians who have not joined the fight. “Women are more courageous than you are.” | |
| By Wednesday night, a Tunisian militant group calling itself the Uqba ibn Nafi Battalion posted a more detailed message on the Internet praising the attack and including information that contradicted reports from the Tunisian authorities. | |
| The video named the attackers, but it identified them as Yassin al-Obeidi and Sabr al-Kashnawi, according to a translation by the SITE Intelligence Group, which tracks extremist groups. | |
| The message also included photographs that appeared to show the dead bodies of the attackers — young men with assault rifles, each lying in a pool of blood and wearing running shoes and casual clothes. Tunisian officials had said the attackers wore military uniforms. | |
| The video appeared to stop short of claiming responsibility for the attack or of identifying a group behind it, however. “We will not answer this now, in order to listen to more of your ridiculous analysis and your weeping and crying on television and radio, and to laugh more at the inefficiency of your apostate masters,” it said. | |
| The video also provided a detailed account of the operation, although it was unclear whether that was based on inside knowledge of the attacks or on reports in the Tunisian news media. But in citing the details, the message mocked the spokesman for the Tunisian Interior Ministry, Mohamed Ali al-Arawi, by name. | |
| “These are details of the operation, O Arawi, O liar, O apostate,” the message said. “Do not search much and lie to the silly ones, your companions, and claim that you are still searching and investigating and want to know what happened.” | |
| The message also mocked Ennahda, a party of moderate Islamists who had denounced the attack. It reveled in the decline in the Tunisian stock market after the attack, and suggested that sympathizers who were reluctant to fight with security forces should consider attacking unarmed tourists, whose spending is crucial to the Tunisian economy. | |
| Westerners and Israelis, the group suggested, were ideal targets. “You should hunt them everywhere, especially the French, the Americans, the British, and the Israelis,” the message said. “Lure them in roads, lodges, dance clubs, and bars. Slaughter them on the beaches, drown them in the sea, poison them on the roads by giving them something poisoned to eat, break their skull with a stone, or suffocate them with a pillow in the room.” |