Unity Pleas after Tunisia Museum Massacre
Shocked Tunisians faced calls Thursday for a united front against extremism after an attack on foreign tourists that left 19 people dead and bore the hallmarks of a jihadist assault.
The main trade union confederation and other civil society groups announced plans for a silent demonstration outside the Tunis museum where 17 foreign tourists and two Tunisians were killed on Wednesday.
As international outrage grew over the worst post-revolution attack in the birthplace of the Arab Spring, President Beij Caid Essebsi vowed to fight extremists "without mercy to our last breath".
The leader of the Islamist opposition party Ennahda, Rached Ghannouchi, said he was convinced that "the Tunisian people will stay united in the face of barbarity".
The media also called for solidarity, with newspaper La Presse appealing for "total unity and a sense of responsibility shared by all".
No group has claimed the attack by gunmen in military uniforms who opened fire at visitors as they got off a bus and then chased them inside the National Bardo Museum.
Two Tunisians were also killed and more than 40 people from around the world wounded in the assault, in a massive blow to Tunisia's heavily tourism-dependent economy.
After cowering in fear in the museum during the night, two Spanish tourists were discovered alive and well on Thursday, officials said.
Prime Minister Habib Essid named the two gunmen killed by security forces as Yassine Abidi and Hatem Khachnaoui.
But "for the moment we cannot say if they belong to one or another terrorist organisations," he told RTL French radio.
He said Abidi was known to the police.
Tunisia has seen an upsurge in Islamist extremism since the 2011 revolution that ousted longtime strongman Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and sparked the Arab Spring uprisings around the region.
The museum assailants were "probably" Tunisian, the interior ministry said.
The authorities gave no further details about the attackers but had said on Wednesday that two or three accomplices could be at large.
Japanese, Italian, Colombian, Australian, French, Polish and Spanish tourists were among the dead, according to Essid, but there was conflicting information about the breakdown of the toll.
Nine of the slain tourists were from the MSC Spendida cruise ship, whose owners said a special psychologist unit had been set up for passengers.
- 'Wanton violence' -
The attack appeared to be the worst on foreigners in Tunisia since an al-Qaida suicide bombing of a synagogue killed 21 people on the island of Djerba in 2002.
It was also the first time civilians have been targeted since the revolution.
The assault sparked outrage, with hundreds of people gathering late Wednesday in a major thoroughfare of the capital, singing the national anthem and shouting slogans against the attackers, labelling them terrorists.
US Secretary of State John Kerry denounced the "wanton violence".
British Prime Minister David Cameron said he was "appalled" by the attack and French President Francois Hollande expressed "solidarity" with the country.
A Japanese survivor described how she and her mother were shot in the hail of bullets.
"I was crouching down with my arms over my head, but I was shot in the ear, hand and neck," 35-year-old Noriko Yuki said from her hospital bed in comments aired by Japanese broadcaster NHK.
"My mother beside me was shot in the neck."
- 'Run! Run!' -
Museum employee Dhouha Belhaj Alaya said she heard "intense gunfire" around noon.
"My co-workers were screaming 'Run! Run! Shots are being fired!'" she told Agence France Presse. "We escaped out the back door with co-workers and some tourists."
Tunisia has taken pride in forming a democratic government and achieving stability since the Arab Spring -- in marked contrast to countries such as Egypt and Libya.
But dozens of police and military personnel have been killed or wounded in attacks blamed on Islamist militants.
An army offensive against jihadists linked to al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb has been under way since 2012.
The country is also fighting against the radicalisation of Muslim youth. Authorities say as many as 3,000 Tunisians have gone to Iraq, Syria and Libya to fight in jihadist ranks, including with the Islamic State group.
About 500 jihadists are believed to have since returned home.
Source: Agence France Presse
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