Tunisia’s Bardo museum in symbolic reopening after attacks
Museum officials said the reopening was “a message” to the gunmen who killed 20 foreigners
Tunisia’s Bardo museum held a ceremonial reopening on Tuesday a week after gunmen claiming alliance with Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) killed 20 foreign tourists in an attack aimed at destroying the country’s tourism industry.
Last Wednesday, at least two attackers opened fire on tourists from Spain, Japan, Italy and Colombia among other nations as they got off buses at the Bardo, in one of the worst attacks in the North African country for a decade.
Tunisians carrying national flags and “Visit Tunisia” signs gathered behind barricades outside the Bardo on Tuesday where dignitaries only were invited for a symbolic reopening with drummers and traditional pipe music under tight security.
“We don’t have any fear, we just want to show solidarity with our country, the government and the Tunisian people,” said Tunisian businessman Ali Degez, joining others at the barricades outside the Bardo in central Tunis.
The public reopening of the Bardo is expected at the weekend.
The Bardo attack by gunmen trained in jihadi camps in Libya shocked Tunisia, which mostly managed to escape the upheaval of other “Arab Spring” countries four years after its revolt to topple autocrat Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali.
Tunisia has been hailed as a model for compromise politics between secular and Islamist politicians, approving a progressive new constitution and holding presidential and parliamentary elections last year.
But Wednesday’s attack underscored how Islamist militants are trying to turn their sights on North Africa as a new front beyond their main battlefield of Iraq and Syria. Already Islamic State loyalists are gaining a foothold in neighboring Libya.
Also Read
-
Tunisia fires top security chiefs after attack
Militant gunmen last week killed 20 foreign tourists at the museum inside the parliament compound Africa -
Third Tunisia museum gunman on the run
President Essebsi said a monument would be built to commemorate the 23 people killed in the attack Middle East -
Tunisia says ‘developments’ in museum massacre probe
Tunisian authorities said there were developments in the investigation into the attack on the national museum claimed by ISIS Middle East -
Terror attack in Tunisia a fresh blow to tourism industry
Cruise companies have been quick to cancel stops in the country as 17 of the victims at the Bardo National Museum Economy -
Third French national dies of wounds from Tunisia attack
Japanese, Italian, Spanish and British visitors, as well as three Tunisians, were among the victims of the attack Africa -
Tunisia says museum gunmen trained in Libya
The two gunmen were named by authorities as Yassine Abidi and Hatem Khachnaoui Africa -
Colombian regrets losing wife, son in Tunisia attack
Twenty-one people, nearly all foreign tourists, were killed Wednesday by gunmen who stormed Tunisia’s National Bardo Museum Middle East -
ISIS claims responsibility for Tunisia attack
The attack at the capital’s Bardo museum left 23 people killed, including 20 tourists Middle East
