Tunisia arrests nine after terror attack
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Tunisia arrests nine after terror attack

Tunisia arrests nine after terror attack

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(AGI) Tunis, Mar 19 - Nine people have been arrested followingthe jihadist attack in Tunisia in which 21 people died and 47were injured. Two of the attackers also died in the bombing inTunis on Wednesday. Four of those held were believed to bedirectly connected to the massacre and the others are suspectedof having ties to the terrorist cell. The dead include 18foreign tourists, a member of the security forces, a coachdriver and a museum cleaner. Two Italians were confirmed deadand two missing. A Foreign Ministry crisis unit team set offfor Tunis on Thursday morning to help in the search. Two othermissing Italians have been found and one is seriously hurt. ASpanish couple who were reported missing after the attack hidfor nearly 24 hours near the Bardo Museum. The woman is fourmonths pregnant. This was the most serious attack inTunisia since the assault on a synagogue in Djerba, in 2002, inwhich 21 people were killed. Tunisia, which was the cradle ofthe Arab Spring and a model of stability and openness in theArab world, is now closing ranks. President Beji Caid Essebsisaid that the country is "at war" to eradicate terrorism. Thearmy is being deployed in the main cities to deal with thethreat. Tunisian Prime Minister Habib Essid, said that oneof the terrorists was known to intelligence services, but wasnot linked to any terrorist group. The two terrorists wereidentified as Yassine Laabidi, from Ibn Khaldoun, and HatemKhachnaoui, originally from Kasserine who had disappeared forthree months and called his parents with an Iraqi phone card.Yassine Laabidi had been identified by the secret services,"but for nothing special". Italy has been placed on "highalert". Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni said there were nospecific threats as the problem was global, "but we should notdraw either alarmist, or unreasonable conclusions. And we mustnot give up our freedom". (AGI) . . .
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