2nd LD: 21 killed, including 17 foreigners, in Tunisia's museum attack: PM
Xinhua, March 19, 2015 Adjust font size:
At least 21 people, including 17 tourists, were killed in an attack on a museum in the capital Tunis on Wednesday, Tunisia's Prime Minister Habib Essid said.
"Seventeen tourists, a civilian, two gunmen and a policeman were killed in the attack on Bardo Museum," Essid said in a televised speech following the attack.
Five "terrorists" carried out the attack which also left 22 people injured, he said, adding that two gunmen were shot dead by Tunisian security forces.
The tourists are from Spain, Italy, Germany, France, Japan and Poland.
A spokesman for the Tunisian Interior Ministry said that the gunmen entered the Bardo Museum through the parliament building in Tunis and took a group of tourists as hostages when security forces stormed the building.
A fire exchange took place between the forces and the militants who opened fire at the hostages, killing 17 of them, according to the spokesman.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack as far.
Wednesday's attack is the most dangerous in Tunisia since its independence in 1956. Endit