Summary

  • At least 19 people including 17 tourists are killed after gunmen target the Bardo museum in central Tunis

  • Polish, Italian, Spanish, German and Tunisian citizens are among those killed

  • Prime Minister Habib Essid says there were up to five attackers and that 22 tourists and two Tunisians were injured

  • Parliament has now been evacuated and the bulk of the operation is now reported to be over

  • However the security forces are continuing to combing Tunis for more attackers, Mr Essid says

Live Reporting

Farouk Chothia and Roland Hughes

  1. In a tweet, Tunisia's President Beji Caid Essebsi says he has received a call from his Egyptian counterpart, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, expressing his solidarity with Tunisia's people.

  2. The National Bardo Museum - evacuated after the shooting - is a leading tourist attraction that chronicles Tunisia's history and houses one of the world's largest collections of Roman mosaics, PA reports.

  3. Donald Tusk, President of the European Council

    tweets: My deepest sympathies to families of victims of Bardo museum attacks. EU stands united w #Tunisia against extremism.

  4. In a statement, the EU's High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Federica Mogherini, says: "With the attack that has struck Tunis today, the [Islamic State] terrorist organisation is once again targeting the countries and peoples of the Mediterranean region."

  5. An ambulance leaves the Bardo museum.

    An ambulance leaves the Bardo museumAP

  6. JM Berger, the author of ISIS: The State of Terror, posted this tweet:

    Tweet by J.M. Berger - March 18, 2015Twitter

  7. Italy's foreign ministry says that two Italians have been injured in the museum attack and 100 Italians inside the museum have been taken to a secure location.

  8. There's plenty of reaction to the events coming in on social media. Here's the take of Daveed Garstenstein-Ross of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

    Tweet by Daveed Garstenstein-Ross, of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies - March 18, 2015Twitter

  9. Two or three gunmen involved in the attack on the museum may still be at large, Prime Minister Habib Essid says.

  10. A disproportionately large number of Tunisians - about 3,000, according to government estimates - have joined Islamic State fighters in Syria and Iraq, AP reports.

  11. Violence in Tunisia in recent years has been largely focused on the security forces, not foreigners or tourist sites, AP reports, although four attackers were killed in an attack on the US embassy in Tunis in September 2012.

  12. EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Federica Mogherini blames Islamic State militants for the attack on tourists in Tunis.

  13. A victim being evacuated by rescue workers outside the Bardo musum in Tunis

    A victim being evacuated by rescue workers outside the Bardo musum in TunisAP

  14. AFP quotes Tunisia's health minister Said Aidi as saying some of the injured came from France, South Africa, Poland, Italy and Japan.

  15. Sayida Ounissi, an MP with the moderate Islamist Ennahda party, says that it is the first time tourists have been targeted by extremists since the uprising in 2010. "Although the security forces said they were actually targeting the parliament, they got stopped before reaching the parliament so they actually went back to the museum and killed the people there."

  16. Tunisia's President, Beji Caid Essebsi, has gone to meet survivors of the attack and has just tweeted this photo.

    Tunisian president Beji Caid Essebsi meeting survivor of the Bardo Museum attack - March 18, 2015Twitter

  17. The first images are coming in of people fleeing the Bardo Museum as the hostage crisis there came to an end. These are all still images taken from Tunisian television.

    An image grab taken from the state-run Tunisia 1 channel on March 18, 2015 shows people escaping from Tunis" famed Bardo Museum during an attackAFP/Tunisian 1
    An image grab taken from the state-run Tunisia 1 channel on March 18, 2015 shows people escaping from Tunis" famed Bardo Museum during an attack by two men - March 18, 2015AFP/Tunisian 1

  18. Imen Ben Mohamed, Deputy of the #ARP - Ennahdha Party - Deputy of the Tunisian Constituent Assembly

    tweets: In response to the attack on the deputies gathered in parliament. We send a message of unity and courage against these terrorists in #Tunisia

  19. British freelance journalist Simon Cordall, who is outside the museum

    tweets: "Huge cheers from the crowd as the Swat team leave. Hostages being taken away by ambulance. A police officer told me they're fine."

  20. The security forces are continuing their operation, Mr Essid says, and were combing Tunis for more attackers.