CAIRO: Gunmen in Tunisia took a group of tourists hostage at a museum and at least 22 people were reportedly killed before police ended the siege.
Seventeen tourists were killed, while two of the assailants and one policeman died in the raid by security forces that ended the standoff Wednesday at the Bardo Museum, Prime Minister Habib Essid said in a televised address. Three more people may have been involved in the attack, he said. State television later put the death toll at 22 without giving details. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.
Among the dead are citizens of Poland, Italy, Spain and Germany, Essid said, calling the attack the first of its kind in the North African country’s capital. The gunmen were dressed as soldiers, and before entering the museum they had stormed the parliament building.
Essid called on Tunisians to support the army and security forces as the country goes through “a sensitive and important phase” of its transition to democracy.
Rachid Ghannouchi, leader of the Ennahda party that held power for most of the period since Tunisia’s uprising before losing elections last year, also condemned the attacks. “We stand behind our army and security forces, one line to combat terrorism,” he told Al Jazeera television
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