Bardo National Museum attack

Bardo National Museum attack
Tourists, a museum employee, and a member of the Tunisian security forces were killed at the Bardo National Museum in Tunis
Tunis Tunis (Tunisia)
Location	Tunis, Tunisia
Date	18 March 2015 12:30 CET
Target	Parliament of Tunisia Bardo National Museum
Attack type	Mass killing, hostage taking
Weapons	Kalashnikov rifles Hand grenades
Deaths	24 (20 foreign tourists and 4 Tunisians, including 2 perpetrators)
Non-fatal injuries	42
Perpetrators	Yassine Labidi and Saber Khachnaoui (both killed) Unidentified third suspect (at large) Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant – Algeria Province

On 18 March 2015, three militants attacked the Bardo National Museum in the Tunisian capital city of Tunis, and took hostages. Twenty-one people, mostly European tourists, were killed at the scene, while an additional victim died ten days later. Around fifty others were injured. Two of the gunmen, Tunisian citizens Yassine Labidi and Saber Khachnaoui, were killed by police, while the third attacker is currently at large. Police treated the event as a terrorist attack.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) claimed responsibility for the attack, and threatened to commit further attacks. However, the Tunisian government blamed a local splinter group of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, called the Okba Ibn Nafaa Brigade, for the attack. A police raid killed nine members on 28 March.

Since the removal from power of longtime President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in the 2011 Tunisian Revolution, the country has faced occasional attacks from Islamist militants, mainly in remote areas. Its citizens have also been one of the largest constituents of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). Tourism has been important to the nation's economy since its transition to democracy.

The morning of the attack, the MSC Splendida and the Costa Fascinosa landed at the Port of La Goulette. Some of the passengers on board the ships had decided to go to the Bardo Museum. At the time of the attack, more than 200 tourists were present in the vicinity.

The attack began at around 12:30 p.m. At that time, security guards protecting the museum and the nearby Parliament building were absent on a coffee break. 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. The siege lasted three hours, ending when security forces breached the building and killed two of the attackers. One policeman was fatally shot during the rescue operation.