Tunis: Tunisia said it would deploy the army to major cities and arrested nine people on Thursday after 20 foreign tourists were shot dead at a museum in the capital in an attack claimed by the Daesh terror group.
Officials did not confirm the claim, but said they had identified the two gunmen shot dead by security forces after opening fire on tourist buses visiting the Bardo museum inside Tunisia’s heavily guarded parliament compound on Wednesday.
Japanese, Italian, Spanish and British visitors, as well as three Tunisians, were among the victims.
The terrorist group praised the two attackers in an audio recording in Arabic, calling them “knights of the Islamic
State [Daesh]” armed with machineguns and bombs.
The two dead attackers were identified as Tunisians, Hatem Al Khashnawi and Yassin Al Abidi.
Two local newspapers said Abidi had spent time in Iraq and Libya. Tunisia’s Prime Minister Habib Al Sid said Abidi had been under surveillance but “not for anything very special”.
“We have identified them, it is indeed these two terrorists,” the premier told French RTL radio earlier on Thursday.
In a severe blow for Tunisia’s tourist industry, Spain’s MSC Cruises and Italy’s Costa Crociere said none of their boats would berth in Tunis until further notice.
—Reuters
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