Militant Islam Monitor > Articles > Muslim Terrorists Kill Over 17 Tourists At Tunesian Museum
Muslim Terrorists Kill Over 17 Tourists At Tunesian Museum
March 18, 2015
Seventeen foreign tourists 'hunted' from cruise ship buses and shot dead in Tunisia: 'Islamic' gunmen open fire on popular museum before being shot dead themselves in dramatic police raid
At least 17 foreigners have been killed in a terror attack in Tunisia
Unconfirmed local reports suggest two Britons were among those dead
Two gunmen opened fire in the capital's Bardo Museum about midday
Another 30 people were held hostage before police raided the building
Both attackers and a policeman were killed in the ensuing shootout
Two Britons are feared to be among 17 tourists killed today after two gunmen 'hunted down' foreigners outside a popular Tunisian museum, before being killed themselves in a dramatic police raid.
Seventeen of those killed were foreigners, but local reports suggesting two were British are yet to be confirmed.
Tunisian prime minister Habib Essid has now warned two or three gunmen involved in the attack may still be at large.
He described how the vulnerable tourists were 'hunted down' as they exited cruise ship buses to visit the popular museum in the country's capital of Tunis, before two gunmen entered the museum to take dozens more hostage.
He said: 'The terrorist fired randomly as they got off the buses. As they fled, they were hunted and chased down.'
By Corey Charlton and Flora Drury For Mailonline
Published: 07:45 EST, 18 March 2015 | Updated: 11:02 EST, 18 March 2015
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HOW TUNISIA BECAME A BREEDING GROUND FOR ISIS MILITANTS
Tunisia has long been a hot-bed of would be jihadist sympathetic to the ISIS cause, with an estimated 3,000 people fighting in Syria – the highest number of any country.
The north African country has always been a breeding ground for terrorists, with extremists advantage of bored and jobless young men looking for an escape route.
But the recent surge in numbers seems to be down to the hard-line groups which have taken advantage of the relaxing laws following the Jasmine Revolution in 2011 - including Islamist militant group Ansar al Sharia, which the United States brands as a terrorist organisation and blames for a 2012 attack on the U.S. embassy in Tunis.
The government also released a number of fundamentalists from prison – allowing them to mix freely with the population once more.
These groups have taken advantage of the declining economy, capitalising on the disappointment felt by those who expected a change after the Arab Spring, according to Imen Triki, a lawyer who represents returning jihadists.
'The Arab revolutions raised an expectation that wasn't met – people thought their lives would improve, but instead they got worse,' Mr Triki told The Telegraph.
'In Syria, they are told they'll get houses, they'll get wives. These people are so alienated from our society that some choose this option in a heartbeat.'
Social media is also blamed, with pictures of ISIS fighters getting thousands of likes and recruiters using Facebook to find any potential fighters, much like is seen in the UK.
But with the rise of ISIS in Libya, to the east, and al-Qaeda affiliated groups in Algeria, to the west, it is now easy to join a 'jihad', and get arms into Tunisia itself.
'Tunisia is surrounded by jihadist groups in the mountains who coordinate with the terrorists in Libya ... Libya is the main source of arms for jihadists in Tunisia,' said Prime Minister Mehdi Jomaa.
But despite this, Tunisia is seen as the success story of the Arab Spring, and tourist numbers have been on the increase once more as people begin to feel the area is safe once more.
In 2013, 6.27million people visited Tunisia. Of those, almost 330,000 were British, while 985,000 were French
Printer-friendly version 
Email this item to a friend