| Bardo National Museum attack | |
|---|---|
 Tourists, a museum employee, and a member of the Tunisian security forces were killed at theBardo National Museum in Tunis[1] | |
  Tunis Tunis (Tunisia) | |
| Location | Tunis, Tunisia |
| Date | 18 March 2015 12:30CET[2] |
| Target | Parliament of Tunisia Bardo National Museum |
Attack type | Mass shooting,hostage taking |
| Weapons | |
| Deaths | 24 (including 2 perpetrators) |
| Injured | 42[4] |
| Perpetrators |  Islamic State[5],Uqba ibn Nafi Brigade (suspected)[4] |
| Assailants | Yassine Labidi and Saber Khachnaoui (both killed), a third asailant still at large (possibly is Maher Ben Moudli Kaidi) |
On 18 March 2015, two militants attacked theBardo National Museum in theTunisian capital city ofTunis, and took hostages.[8] Twenty-one people, mostly European tourists, were killed at the scene, and an additional victim died ten days later. Around fifty others were injured.[9][10][11] The two gunmen, Tunisian citizens Yassine Labidi and Saber Khachnaoui, were killed by police.[12] Police treated the event as aterrorist attack.[13][14]
TheIslamic State (IS) claimed responsibility for the attack, and threatened to commit further attacks.[15] However, the Tunisian government blamed a local splinter group ofal-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, called theUqba Ibn Nafi Brigade, for the attack. A police raid killed nine members ten days later.[6]
Since the removal from power of longtime PresidentZine El Abidine Ben Ali in the 2011Tunisian Revolution, the country has faced occasional attacks from Islamist militants, mainly in remote areas. Tourism has been important to the nation's economy since its transition to democracy.[2]
The morning of the attack, the cruise shipsMSC Splendida andCosta Fascinosa docked at thePort of La Goulette.[16] Some of the passengers on board the ships had decided to go to the Bardo Museum.[17] At the time of the attack, more than 200 tourists were present in the vicinity.[18]
The attack began at around 12:30 p.m.[2] At that time, security guards protecting the museum and the nearbyParliament building were absent on a coffee break.[19] The tourists were attacked as they were getting off a bus to enter the Bardo Museum compound. As scores of visitors ran toward the museum to avoid the shooting, the attackers pursued them and took them hostage inside.[20][21] The siege lasted three hours,[22] ending when security forces breached the building and killed two of the attackers. One policeman was fatally shot during the rescue operation.[6][23]
Tunisian security forces escorted dozens of tourists up nearby steps and away from the danger, as armed agents pointed guns toward an adjacent building. Many tourists ran in panic to safety, including at least one couple carrying two children.[24]
During the attack, members of Parliament were discussing counter-terrorist legislation when they were ordered to evacuate the building due to the sound of gunfire.[25] They were later forced to lie down on the ground as security forces commenced the rescue operation of hostages.[26]
According to analystRita Katz of theSITE Intelligence Group, holders of Twitter accounts associated with IS were overjoyed at the attack, urging Tunisians to "follow their brothers".[27] The day following the attack, the Islamic State group issued a statement claiming responsibility for the incident and promising further attacks.[15] Meanwhile, a Twitter account linked to the Islamic State published a photograph of one of the Italian victims; the image, showing Francesco Caldara, has a red cross drawn on it and the words: "Crusader Crushed."[28]
Anti-terrorism protests began in central Tunis after the attack, with crowds reportedly chanting, "Tunisia is free, terrorism out."[29] On 24 March, nearly a week after the attack, the museum held a ceremonial reopening. Simultaneously, thousands of Tunisians and tourists staged a march in Tunis to show their solidarity with the slain victims.[30]
On 29 March, tens of thousands of demonstrators, along withFrench PresidentFrançois Hollande, Italian Prime MinisterMatteo Renzi, and several other world leaders, marched in Tunis under the sloganThe World Is Bardo (Le Monde est Bardo) to protest terrorism.[6][31]
| Country | Number |
|---|---|
 France | 4 |
 Italy | 4 |
 Japan | 3 |
 Poland | 3 |
 Colombia | 2 |
 Spain | 2 |
 Tunisia | 1 |
 Belgium | 1 |
 Russia | 1 |
 United Kingdom | 1 |
| Total | 22 |
When the attack ended, nineteen foreign tourists,[10][25] including four Italians,[32][33] three French nationals,[34] three Japanese,[35] three Polish nationals,[36] two Spaniards,[37][38][39] two Colombians (including one with dual Australian citizenship),[37] one Russian,[40] and one British national[41] were found to have been killed.[42] A Tunisian police officer and two perpetrators were also reported dead.[10][25] On 28 March, an injured French woman, Huguette Dupeu, died of her wounds at a hospital.[34][43]
Over 50 other people were injured, many of them foreign tourists.[44]MSC Crociere S.A. reported that nine of its passengers had been killed, and twelve were injured; the dead included two Spaniards, one Belgian, one British national, one French national and one Japanese.[17] The cruise company said that it would not schedule any further visits to the Port ofLa Goulette in 2015,[45] choosingMalta as a replacement.[46]
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Yassine Labidi and Saber Khachnaoui, both Tunisian citizens, were identified by Tunisian Prime MinisterHabib Essid as the two slain gunmen a day after the attack.[47] Prior to the attack, Labidi lived in the Tunis neighborhood of Ibn Khaldoun, while Khachnaoui was fromKasserine.[48] Labidi moved after theJasmine Revolution toSfax for work, and lived there until his death.[49] He worked as a deliveryman for a local business prior to the attack.[50] While Labidi was known to intelligence services, neither of the two men had previously been positively linked to known Tunisian terrorist organisations.[51]
An operation looking for up to three suspected accomplices was launched immediately following the attack.[1] On the following day, nine people were arrested, four for direct links to the cell which carried out the shooting and five for having indirect links to it.[52] Their roles in the attack have not yet been clarified.[53] On 21 March, the number of people arrested reached over twenty, with ten accused of having direct links to the museum attack.[54] On 26 March, authorities arrested twenty-three members of a terror cell linked to the attack.[citation needed]
According toBBC security correspondent Frank Gardner, anal-Qaeda operative claimed the men had spent two months training with militants inDerna, Libya.[52] On 20 March, Tunisian Security Minister Rafik Chelly announced that Labidi and Khachnaoui had received weapons training inLibya from an unspecified group prior to carrying out the attack.[55] According to authorities, they managed to slip past the border to Libya undetected in December.[50]
On 28 March, Tunisian police killed Lokman Abu Sakhra, an Algerian suspected of planning the attack, along with eight other armed men during a raid in the southernGafsa region. They were allegedly major members of the Okba Ibn Nafaa Brigade, a splinter group ofal-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. Interior Ministry spokesman Mohamed Ali Aroui said, "[T]he nine were among the most dangerous terrorists in Tunisia." Sakhra was said to be the leader of the group. The Tunisian government said the Okba Ibn Nafaa Brigade was responsible for the attack, despite claims of responsibility made by theIslamic State.[6][56][57]
On 20 May, 22-year-old Moroccan illegal immigrant Abdelmajid Touil was arrested in Italy on allegations that he aided the attackers.[58]
In December 2017US Secretary of StateRex W. Tillerson namedWanas al-Faqih and two other men, as terrorists.[59] On 4 January 2018, when the State Department listed al-Faqih on its list of globally designated terrorists they described him as having planned the Bardo Museum attack.[60][61][62]
Tunisian PresidentBeji Caid Essebsi announced viaFacebook that he would address the nation later that day.[25] In his address, he called the attack a "huge disaster" and called for Tunisia to prevent such an attack in the future,[29] further saying that the country was in a "war against terrorism".[63] He also pledged for the quick passage of an anti-terrorism law.[64] Prime MinisterHabib Essid issued a statement on the "cowardly" attack and called for unity,[26] later chairing an emergency cabinet meeting.[25] Essebsi also praised Akil, a one-and-a-half-year-oldGerman Shepherd police dog who was killed in the raid, saying, "It's a victim we don't talk about but it's a heavy loss."[65] On the day following the attack, Essebsi ordered the deployment of Tunisian troops to the country's major cities as a security precaution.[66]
AustralianForeign Affairs MinisterJulie Bishop called the incident a "terrorist attack on a fledgling democracy", and Prime MinisterTony Abbott sent his condolences to the family of an Australian killed in the attack.[44] BritishForeign SecretaryPhilip Hammond described the killings as a "cowardly terrorist attack", whilst Prime MinisterDavid Cameron described the incident as "appalling and brutal".[67] Colombian PresidentJuan Manuel Santos lamented the death of the two Colombians killed in the attack and expressed his solidarity with their families;[68] the foreign ministry added a statement.[44] French Prime MinisterManuel Valls condemned the attack.[69] Italian Prime MinisterMatteo Renzi condemned the attack and emphasized that Italy is close to the Tunisian government.[70] PresidentSergio Mattarella condemned the attack as "a fact of unprecedented violence".[71] The Japanese government condemned the attack as "despicable", while Prime MinisterShinzō Abe, in addition to his own condemnation, stated thatTokyo was working to collect further information.[44] TheMinistry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of Spain condemned the attack in a press release.[72]
Condolences and outrage were expressed by other states, including theHoly See,[73]Mexico,[74] theSahrawi Arab Democratic Republic,[75]Singapore,[76]Syria,[77]Turkey,[78] and theUnited States.[79]
On 4 March 2019, a memorial to the British victim and those of the2015 Sousse attacks, calledInfinite Wave, was unveiled inCannon Hill Park, Birmingham, England, byPrince Harry, Duke of Sussex.[80][81]
Acting under the authority of and in accordance with section 1(b) of Executive Order 13224 of September 23, 2001, as amended by Executive Order 13268 of July 2, 2002, and Executive Order 13284 of January 23, 2003, I hereby determine that the person known as Wanas al-Faqih committed, or poses a significant risk of committing acts of terrorism that threaten the security of U.S. nationals or the national security, foreign policy, or economy of the United States.
These designations impose strict sanctions on foreign persons determined to have committed, or pose a significant risk of committing, acts of terrorism that threaten the security of U.S. nationals or the national security, foreign policy, or economy of the United States. Among the consequences of these designations, all of their property and interests in property subject to U.S. jurisdiction are blocked, and U.S. persons are generally prohibited from engaging in any transactions with them.
State listed the three al Qaeda figures as Wanas al-Faqih from al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), Abukar Ali Adan from Shabaab (al Qaeda's branch in East Africa), and Muhammad Al Ghazali from al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). The three al Qaeda branches wage insurgencies in their respective regions while continuing to plot terrorist attacks elsewhere, including against Western interests.
Two other al-Qaeda leaders – Muhammad al-Ghazali (in Arabian Peninsula) and Wanas al-Faqih (in Islamic Maghreb) – were also added to terrorists' list.'Al-Ghazali is involved in internal security and training of the group's operatives,' the US State Department said.
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