17 Tourists Dead in Tunis Terrorism Attack

Published Mar 18, 2015 8:57 PM by The Maritime Executive

Gunmen wearing military uniforms stormed Tunisia's national museum, killing 17 foreign tourists and two Tunisians on Wednesday in one of the worst militant attacks in a country that had largely escaped the region's "Arab Spring" turmoil.

Visitors from Italy, Germany, Poland and Spain were among the dead in the noon assault on Bardo museum inside the heavily guarded parliament compound in central Tunis, Prime Minister Habib Essid said.

Two cruise ships, the Costa Fascinosa and MSC Splendida, were docked in La Goulette, Tunisia as part of the cruises’ shore excursions. The cruise passengers were on shore during the attack, but it has yet to be reported if any of the passengers were victims of the attack at the museum.

Both ships’ shore excursions were recalled with all ground activities suspended as soon as the cruises’ commands were notified of the attack. According to the statement released by Costa, Costa HQ management and Care Team are traveling to Tunis in order to liaise with local authorities and passengers, and extra security measures are being taken around the port by local authorities to ensure the security of the ship, its passengers and crew. The Costa Fascinosa was scheduled to depart the La Goulette port tonight at 8 p.m. but will be delayed. No reports from the MSC Splendida have been issued as of yet.

"They just started opening fire on the tourists as they were getting out of the buses ... I couldn't see anything except blood and the dead," the driver of a tourist coach told journalists at the scene.

Scores of visitors fled into the museum and the militants took hostages inside, government officials said. Security forces entered the building, a former palace, around two hours later, killed two militants and freed the captives, a government spokesman said. A police officer died in the operation.

Authorities did not immediately identify the gunmen. But several Islamist militant groups have emerged in Tunisia since the uprising, and authorities estimate about 3,000 Tunisians have also joined fighters in Iraq and Syria -- raising fears they could return and mount attacks at home.

"All Tunisians should be united after this attack which was aimed at destroying the Tunisian economy," Prime Minister Essid declared in a national address.

The local stock exchanged dropped nearly 2.5% before closing, and two German tour operators said they were cancelling trips from Tunisia's beach resorts to Tunis for a few days.

Accor, Europe's largest hotel group, said it had tightened security at its two hotels in Tunisia.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Washington condemned the attack and continued "to support the Tunisian government's efforts to advance a secure, prosperous, and democratic Tunisia.

Television footage showed dozens of people, including elderly foreigners and one man carrying a child, running for shelter in the compound, covered by security forces aiming rifles into the air.

Tunisia's government said 22 foreign tourists were wounded.

The museum is known for its collection of ancient Tunisian artifacts and mosaics and other treasures from classical Rome and Greece. There were no immediate reports the attackers had copied Islamic State militants in Iraq by targeting exhibits seen by hardliners as idolatrous.

Wednesday's assault was the worst attack involving foreigners in Tunisia since an al Qaeda suicide bombing on a synagogue killed 21 people on the tourist island of Djerba in 2002.