Two Britons are feared to be among 17 tourists killed today after two gunmen 'hunted down' foreigners outside a popular Tunisian museum, before being killed themselves in a dramatic police raid. Seventeen of those killed were foreigners, but local reports suggesting two were British are yet to be confirmed.
Tunisian prime minister Habib Essid has now warned two or three gunmen involved in the attack may still be at large. He described how the vulnerable tourists were 'hunted down' as they exited cruise ship buses to visit the popular museum in the country's capital of Tunis, before two gunmen entered the museum to take dozens more hostage.
He said: 'The terrorist fired randomly as they got off the buses. As they fled, they were hunted and chased down.' It is believed several hundred managed to flee the museum, while another 20 - 30 were taken captive before anti-terrorist security forces raided the building.
Polish, Italian, Spanish and German nationals have been confirmed as among the casualties, while the death of the two militants, a police officer and a Tunisian brings the death toll to 21. It is unclear who the attackers were, but a video posted online in December attributed to Islamic State warned the jihadis would target the country.
Mohamed Ali Aroui, an Interior Ministry spokesman, described the two attackers as 'Islamists' in local broadcasts, CNN reported. National guardsmen and anti-terrorist police quickly surrounded the hugely popular tourist site, which is visited by thousands of foreigners every year, including many Britons.
Fleets of ambulances could also be seen driving in and out of the museum grounds, as helicopters flew overhead.Two heavily armed terrorists were believed to have been holed-up inside with Kalashnikovs and they entered the museum disguised as soldiers, said an Interior Ministry spokesman in Tunis.
Interior Ministry spokesman Mohamed Ali Aroui said on Radio Mosaique that one of the dead was a Tunisian. He didn't provide nationalities for the other victims. Farouk Afi, a blogger in Tunisia, was about to meet his friend in the museum when he heard the shots go off, according to the BBC.
He said: 'I was near, next door in the café, and I was going to meet with my friends. I heard it and I didn’t know at that moment what it was, but the police told me go far from this place. '[My friend] is now with many people [inside the museum] and not sure how many people have fled and injuries and deaths.'
The Foreign Office also updated its travel advice for the country: 'There are reports of an incident at the Tunisian parliament building and Bardo Museum in Tunis. 'You should avoid the area until further notice and follow the instructions of the Tunisian security authorities.'
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