Tunisia terror: 9 arrested for attack on museum that killed 23

Tunisian security forces arrested nine people linked to the deadly attack on the National Bardo Museum that left 23 dead, scores wounded.

The statement said five of those arrested were directly connected to the attack by two gunmen while the other four were arrested in the centre of the country and part of a cell supporting those involved.

One of the gunmen who killed 23 people, was known to intelligence services, but no formal links to a particular extremist group have been established, the prime minister said on Thursday.

Wednesday’s attack on Tunisia’s National Bardo Museum left 23 dead, scores wounded and threatens both Tunisia’s fledgling democracy and its struggling tourism industry. It was the worst attack at a tourist site in Tunisia in years.

Two attackers on Wednesday burst from a vehicle wielding assault rifles and began gunning down tourists climbing out of buses. The attackers then charged inside to take hostages before being killed in a firefight with security forces.

A Spanish man and a pregnant Spanish woman who survived hid in the museum all night in fear and were retrieved safely this morning by security forces, Tunisia's health minister said.

Tunisian Prime Minister Habib Essid, in an interview with France’s RTL radio, said Tunisia was working with other countries to learn more about the attackers, identified as Yassine Laabidi and Hatem Khachnaoui. They were killed by security services in a raid.

He said Laabidi had been flagged to intelligence, although not for “anything special”.

Authorities are still hunting for two or three more people believed to have been involved in the attack.