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Tunisian government releases CCTV footage of museum attack

Footage showing a militant attack carried out by two gunmen on a museum in Tunisia has been relea...
Newstalk
Newstalk

07.55 22 Mar 2015


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Tunisian government releases C...

Tunisian government releases CCTV footage of museum attack

Newstalk
Newstalk

07.55 22 Mar 2015


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Footage showing a militant attack carried out by two gunmen on a museum in Tunisia has been released by the country's interior ministry.

It shows the armed men walking through the Bardo national museum in the capital Tunis before they opened fire on tourists. 

The government also released two still images of the men, named as Tunisians Yassine Laabidi and Hatem Khachnaoui.

It is claimed they had trained in camps in Libya, and the Tunisian government say they have arrested more than 20 suspected militants following the attack.

Tunisian Prime Minister Habib Essid said Laabidi had been flagged to intelligence services, although not for "anything special".
Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi admitted "failures" helped facilitate the deadly attack.

"There were failures" which meant that "the police and intelligence were not systematic enough to ensure the safety of the museum", he told the Paris Match magazine.

A senior Tunisian politician said the guards supposed to be protecting the museum and the nearby parliament were having coffee at the time of the assault.

"I found out there were only four policemen on security duty around the parliament (compound), two of whom were at the cafe. The third was having a snack and the fourth hadn't turned up," deputy speaker Abdelfattah Mourou said.

Islamic State later released an online audio recording in which it claimed responsibility for the shooting last Wednesday.
Witnesses said the gunmen opened fire on tourists arriving at the museum before chasing them inside.

The two attackers were among the 23 people left dead, which included tourists from Japan, Italy, Colombia, Australia, France and Poland.

A "much-loved" British mother-of-two was also among the victims.

Newly retired Sally Adey, 57, was on holiday with her husband Robert, who was unharmed in the attack.

The Adeys, both solicitors from Shropshire, had been on the cruise ship MSC Splendida, which docked at the port in Tunis early on Wednesday.

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