Britons 'Caught Up' In Tunisia Museum Terror

Written By Unknown on Kamis, 19 Maret 2015 | 16.15

Two British nationals were "caught up" in a terrorist attack the national museum in Tunis in which 21 people were killed, the Foreign Office has said.

Gunmen opened fire on tourists arriving at the Bardo Museum, renowned for its collection of Roman mosaics, before chasing them inside.

Sky's Jonathan Samuels, reporting from the Tunisian capital, said there was a lot of "confusion" about the situation, in which 17 of the dead were tourists.

"A hospital official has just told us they are investigating two pieces of documentation, British identification, we don't know if they are passports.

"They are trying to link those two pieces of ID to their owners."

Some of victims, who included Japanese, Italians, Colombians, Spaniards, Australians, Poles and French, were passengers on two cruise liners which had recently arrived in Tunis. 

MSC Cruises said overnight that one Briton from its ship, the Splendida, remained missing.

In a statement, it said: "... at the time of this announcement nine of its guests are reported to have lost their lives, 12 were injured, and six (two Spanish nationals, one Belgian, one British, one French and one Japanese) are still unaccounted for."

The Foreign Office spokesman said: "We are working with the Tunisian authorities as well as with contacts in the tourist industry to establish if any further British nationals have been affected."

Witnesses said the killers, wearing military uniforms and armed with Kalashnikov assault rifles, picked off visitors one by one, while others hid behind pillars or fled in terror.

Tunisia's president has vowed not to give in to terrorism after the shootings, which also left two Tunisians - a policeman and a cleaner - and two gunmen also dead.

"These monstrous minorities do not frighten us," President Beji Caid Essebsi said on national TV. "We will resist them until the deepest end without mercy. Democracy will win and it will survive."

Tunisian Prime Minister Habib Essid named the two gunmen as Yassine Abidi and Hatem Khachnaoui and said two or three accomplices could still be at large.

One if the dead attackers was known to the country's intelligence agencies but had no confirmed links to militant groups, he later added.

David Cameron said on Twitter he was "appalled" by the attack, adding: "My thoughts are with those affected. UK stands ready to support Tunisia."

Forty-four people were injured in the violence, including 13 Italians, seven French and four Japanese.

One of the wounded Japanese, Noriko Yuki, 35, was visiting the museum with her 68-year-old mother.

"I was crouching down with my arms over my head, but I was shot in the ear, hand and neck," she said from her hospital bed.

"My mother beside me was shot in the neck. Mother couldn't move by herself when the police came over ..."

Tunisia has struggled with Islamist extremism since its authoritarian president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was overthrown in January 2011.

Dozens of police officers and military personnel have been killed or wounded in violence blamed on militants including Islamic State.

The latest attack came a day after security officials confirmed the death in neighbouring Libya of a leading suspect in Tunisian terror attacks and the killings of two opposition figures


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