A Tunisia museum is the sight of tragedy today after two gunman killed 20 people. The majority of the people who were killed were tourists and two were civilians. Also, a guard was injured and not killed by the gunman however he died due to his injuries. The two gunmen were dressed in military garb and they looked like they were ready for war instead of attacking a museum. When the police arrived a firefight ensued between the police and the gunmen. The end result was that the two gunmen were killed. The New York Times goes into a more in-depth report of what happened. But when the Prime Minister Habib Essid held a conference after the attack he was the one who announced how many were victims of the two gunmen. Essie also said in the conference that this attack was that of cowardice and would affect the economy of Tunisia. Now that tourists had been attacked and killed not many people are probably going to go Tunisia for vacation.
Where the attack had taken place was not far from the national parliament and it is speculated that the gunmen had attacked the museum on accident. As a precaution, The Guardian reports that “ Police set up checkpoints and a policeman with a machine gun was posted outside the office of the UK’s British Council.” It is also speculated that the attacks were political in nature since even though the gunmen were never identified or that their motive is unclear. The Guardian also reported that the attacks came after Tunisia announced came a day after Tunisia made an announcement to seize weapons from jihadi groups. So, it can be assumed that the attack was political in nature and may have been a response to the seizure on weapons. However, attacking the museum like this reinforces Tunisia’s decision to seize the weapons is needed in the first place.
The gunfire started around 12:30 Wednesday afternoon and the two gunmen were armed with assault rifles and grenades. They were able to take control of the museum relatively quickly. The identities and motivation of the gunman are still unknown according to The New York Times. It was however reported that there was a video from ISIS from this past December threatening Tunisia for not being governed by Islam. After the attack the video has begun to circulate again and there has been support of the attack from ISIS supporters on Twitter and other social media.
Photograph: AFP
