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Tunisia attack: Australian among 17 tourists killed in attack on Bardo Museum in Tunis, PM says
Updated
An Australian is among 17 tourists who have been killed after gunmen stormed a famed museum next to parliament in Tunisia's capital, the country's prime minister says.
Habid Essid had earlier said 20 tourists were killed at the Bardo National Museum in Tunis, but revised the number downward.
He said the dead included five Japanese, four Italians, two Colombians, two Spaniards, two French, and one each from Australia and Poland.
A spokeswoman for Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said the Government is yet to officially confirm the reports of the Australian's death.
He added that two gunmen had been killed while a Tunisian national and a policeman were also reported dead.
Mr Essid said Kalashnikov-wielding gunmen, dressed in military uniforms, opened fire on the tourists as they were disembarking from a bus and chased them inside the museum.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack but Tunisia — the birthplace of the Arab Spring revolutionary movement — has struggled to tackle a rise in attacks from Islamist extremists.
In a televised national address, Mr Essid declared: "All Tunisians should be united after this attack which was aimed at destroying the Tunisian economy".
Tunisian president Beji Caid Essebsi also addressed the nation, promising a merciless "war against terrorism" in the wake of the attack.
Analysis: correspondent Matt Brown
The first Tunisians heard about the shooting was a live cross from a reporter in the parliament, which is just next door.They said they were being surrounded by security personnel — they and the parliamentarians — and that two men with Kalashnikov assault rifles had attacked the tourists.
The gunmen were apparently killing at random and it was not until the security forces moved, in obviously a reasonably sensitive area, that the two attackers were killed.
A security guard was possibly also killed by the security forces when they moved.
The majority of the death toll are foreign tourists. So it is obvious that if that is what the attackers wanted to do, that is a good place to go.
The prime minister of Tunisia said in a national address that this attack was an attack on the economy which was obviously a reference to the fact that tourism is one of the pillars of Tunisia's economy and this really could make a serious dent in that trade because these victims were largely from Europe.
"I want the Tunisian people to understand that we are in a war against terrorism and that these savage minorities do not frighten us," he said in brief remarks on television.
"We will fight them without mercy to our last breath."
Television footage showed dozens of people, including elderly foreigners and one man carrying a child, running for shelter in the compound, surrounded by security forces aiming rifles into the air.
Health minister Said Aidi told reporters that 38 others had been wounded in the attack, including citizens of France, South Africa, Poland, Italy and Japan.
The attack appeared to be the worst on foreigners in Tunisia since an Al Qaeda suicide bombing on a synagogue killed 14 Germans, two French and five Tunisians on the island of Djerba in 2002.
Some officials, including French prime minister Manuel Valls, said hostages were taken at the museum but this was not confirmed by Tunisian authorities.
Interior ministry spokesman Mohamed Ali Aroui told reporters that "two or more terrorists armed with Kalashnikovs" had targeted the museum next to the Tunisian parliament.
Mr Aroui said about 100 tourists had been inside the museum at the time of the attack.
He said "anti-terrorist units" had entered the museum but refused to confirm reports of a hostage taking.
Politician Monia Brahim said the gunfire prompted parliamentary committees to suspend their meetings as politicians were ordered to assemble in the main chamber.
"There was enormous panic," another politician, Sayida Ounissi, wrote on Twitter, saying the attack took place during hearings on Tunisia's anti-terrorism law.
Tunisia has seen an upsurge in Islamist extremism since the 2011 revolution that ousted longtime strongman Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
Dozens of police and military personnel have been killed or wounded in attacks blamed on Islamist militants.
An army offensive against the jihadists, who are linked to Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, has been underway since 2012 but the ground and air campaign has failed to eliminate them.
The country is also fighting against the radicalisation of Muslim youth, with authorities saying as many as 3,000 Tunisians have gone to Iraq and Syria to fight in jihadist ranks, including the Islamic State group.
AFP
