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Tunisia museum shooting: Third attacker is ‘on the run’

President Beji Caid Essebsi said the attack involved 'three aggressors' and the third man escaped

Tarek Amara
Sunday 22 March 2015 19:53 GMT
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Members of the Tunisian security services take up positions after gunmen reportedly took hostages near the country's parliament, outside the National Bardo Museum, Tunis, Tunisia, 18 March 2015. According to local reports eight people were killed, mostly
Members of the Tunisian security services take up positions after gunmen reportedly took hostages near the country's parliament, outside the National Bardo Museum, Tunis, Tunisia, 18 March 2015. According to local reports eight people were killed, mostly

A third attacker in the deadly assault on the Bardo museum was on the run today, Tunisia’s President said, declaring his country was at war with the extremists who killed 21 people at one of North Africa’s most revered cultural institutions.

President Beji Caid Essebsi said the attack involved “three aggressors” and the third man escaped. Among those killed was a British woman, Sally Adey, 57, who had been on holiday with her husband, Robert.

Over the weekend, Tunisia’s interior ministry released security-camera footage of Wednesday’s attack showing two men walking through the museum, carrying assault rifles. They encounter a third man with a backpack walking down a flight of stairs. They briefly acknowledge each other before walking in opposite directions. Police shot and killed the two gunmen, who were identified as Tunisians who had trained in Libya.

Mr Essebsi said the extremists, who have recruited about 3,000 Tunisians to fight in Iraq and Syria, have no credible connection to Islamic belief. “When war is brought upon us, we will wage war,” he said. AP

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