19+ Tourists Shot Dead-89 Injured Terrorist Attack in Tunisia
Daily Mail UK, 18 March 2015
Nineteen tourists are reported to have died, and many injured after an attack in a Tunisian museum.
The Tunisian prime minister announced that the victims were Polish, Spanish, German, Italian and Tunisian, according to the BBC.
British tour operators confirmed that thousands of customers are believed to be in the country, but "very few" are in the capital.
A UK Foreign Office spokesman said: "We are urgently looking into the serious situation in Tunisia."
A spokesman for the Association of British Travel Agents (Abta) said: "We are currently liaising with our members and the Foreign Office to assess the impact and understand if any British nationals have been caught up in the attack on the Bardo Museum in Tunis.
"Tunisia attracts over 400,000 UK visitors each year, with the vast majority travelling to resorts on the coast.
"Abta members have reported that they have currently approximately 6,500 customers in Tunisia, though very few of these are staying in Tunis. As a precaution many Abta tour operators have cancelled local excursions to Tunis due to depart over the next few days."
The National Bardo Museum is near the national parliament building, which was evacuated after the shooting.
The museum is a leading tourist attraction that chronicles Tunisia's history and houses one of the world's largest collections of Roman mosaics.
People running to safety amid chaos of Tunisia attack:
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EU's Mogherini Blames Islamic State for Tunisia Attack
BRUSSELS, March 18 (Reuters) -
European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini blamed Islamic State on Wednesday for an attack on tourists in Tunisia that killed 19 people, including 17 foreign tourists.
"With the attack that has struck Tunis today, the Daesh terrorist organisation is once again targeting the countries and peoples of the Mediterranean region," she said in a statement, using the Arabic acronym for Islamic State.
"This strengthens our determination to cooperate more closely with our partners to confront the terrorist threat," she said. "The EU is determined to mobilise all the tools it has to fully support Tunisia in the fight against terrorism and reforming the security sector." (Reporting by Adrian Croft; editing by Philip Blenkinsop)