Nineteen people were killed and twenty-two more injured after gunmen attacked the National Bardo Museum in downtown Tunis, Tunisia around noon on Wednesday, March 18. The slain victims included seventeen European tourists and two Tunisians.
Two of the gunmen were killed in a firefight with security forces not long after the attack. Authorities are currently pursuing at least three other gunmen thought to be involved. Latest reports state that the museum location is close to being secured by government forces.
Authorities have speculated that the national Parliament may have been the original target for the gunmen, who were clad in military uniforms and armed with grenades and assault rifles. The Bardo Museum is near the site of the Parliament building, which was also evacuated as forces responded to the attack.
The slain attackers have yet to be identified and no group has yet to claim responsibility for the attack. The possibility exists that the attack may be connected in some way to the Islamic State militant group known as ISIS, who have recruited a large number of Tunisians into their ranks in recent years. Last December, Tunisian members of the Islamic State issued a video proclaiming that Tunisia would remain under threat from the group as long as the country was not “governed by Islam.”
Keep up with PopWrapped for more on this story as it develops.
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