Gunmen shoot dead tourists at museum

Shooting ... Tunisian security forces secure the area after gunmen attacked Tunis' famed Bardo Museum. Picture: AFP Source: AFP

NINETEEN people have been killed after a shooting attack at a Tunisian museum with two gunmen taking hostages before they were shot dead.

Tunisian Prime Minister Habib Essid said that 19 people had died and that 22 tourists and another two Tunisian men were injured.

The two men took about 30 people hostage before security forces stormed the building and killed them. It is believed that one member of the security team was killed during the gunfire.

The attack on the National Bardo Museum prompted the evacuation of Tunisia's parliament building, which is adjacent to the museum.

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls confirmed that hostages were taken during the attack.

"I condemn this terrorist attack in the strongest terms. There has been a hostage-taking, without doubt tourists have been affected, killed," Mr Valls said in Brussels after talks with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.

"This attack cruelly illustrates the threat that we are all confronted with in Europe, in the Mediterranean, around the world. France, Tunisia and Europe will act together to fight terrorism," Mr Valls added.

Private radio station Radio Mosaique said that the men dressed in military-style clothing were controlling the museum for a period.

Mohamed Ali Aroui, an Interior Ministry spokesman who detailed the deaths at the Bardo Museum in Tunis, called the attackers Islamists in remarks on national radio.

Police respond ... Tunisian security forces secure the area after gunmen attacked Tunis' famed Bardo Museum. Picture: AFP Source: AFP

Mr Aroui said on Radio Mosaique that one of the dead was a Tunisian. It is believed that the other seven were European.

The museum is a leading tourist attraction that chronicles Tunisia's history and houses one of the world's largest collections of Roman mosaics.

It is unclear who the attackers are. Tunisia has struggled with violence by Islamic extremists in recent years, including some linked to the Islamic State group.

Tourists can be seen visiting the Bardo Museum in the capital Tunis in 2013. Picture: AFP Source: AFP

Tunisia is where the Arab Spring - the anti-government protests across the Middle East - started in December 2010. A poor 26-year-old man set himself on fire in front of a Tunisian government building that month, after police confiscated his vegetable cart, sparking protests.

Then in 2011 Tunisia managed to overthrow is authoritarian president.

It has been more stable than other countries in the region, but it has struggled with violence by Islamic extremists in recent years, including some linked to IS.

Sealing off area ... Armed Tunisian policemen in plainclothes stop a vehicle as security forces secure the area after gunmen attacked Tunis' famed Bardo Museum. Picture: AFP Source: AFP

It also has extremists linked to al-Qaeda's North Africa arm who occasionally target Tunisian security forces.

A disproportionately large number of Tunisia recruits have joined IS fighters in Syria and Iraq.

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