Tunisia terror: Nine arrested as Islamic State 'claim responsibility' for museum attack
ISLAMIC State has claimed responsibility for the deadly terrorist attack at Tunisia's national museum as nine people have been arrested.
An audio statement posted online today says the group is responsible for the attack on Wednesday at the Bardo National Museum where 20 tourists died - including British solicitor and mother-of-two Sally Adey, 58, of Shropshire.
Islamic State said in the statement Abu Zakariya al-Tunisi and Abu Anas al-Tunisi carried out the attack which also left more than 40 people injured, including 13 Italians, seven French, four Japanese, two South Africans, one Pole, one Russian and six Tunisians.
The Express cannot verify the authenticity of the audio statement but current US thinking is the attack may have been carried out by local "franchise" adherents to ISIS, rather than directed centrally by the group's leadership now thought to be in Syria, according to CNN.
Today nine people have been arrested in connection with the attack - five in direct connection to Wednesday's attack and the other four arrested in central Tunisia are allegedly part of a cell supporting those involved.
A security source said two family members of one of the gunmen, who was killed by security forces during the attack, have been arrested. Earlier today Tunisia's Prime Minister Habib Essid told French radio station RTL the two suspects were Yassine Labidi and Saber Khachnaou.
Laabidi was known to Tunisian intelligence services, the country's prime minister confirmed.
"We arrested the father and the sister of the terrorist Hatem Al-Khashnaoui in the their home in Sbiba City", a security source said.
He declined to give details about how they were involved in the attack, but said an investigation is underway in Tunis.
Shropshire woman Sally Adey, 58, was gunned down by Kalishnikov-wielding attackers who killed 19 other tourists and two Tunisians - including a policeman - at the Bardo National Museum in the country's capital, Tunis.
Today neighbours and colleagues are in shock as they told how the British woman killed in the attack, Sally Adey, of Caynton, near Beckbery in Shropshire, had been "really looking forward" to the cruise she was on with husband Rob, 52, when she was killed. He was unharmed and is receiving support from the UK embassy in Tunis.
The couple were passengers on the MSC Splendido cruise ship which arrived in Tunis the morning of the terror attack.
Julia Holden, a partner at Midlands law firm where Mrs Adey and her husband worked, and a close family friend, issued a statement on behalf of the family, including the couple's two children Harry, 23 and university student Molly, 20.
She said: "Sally Adey was a much-loved daughter, wife and mother. The family are devastated by her loss.
"They are also saddened for others who have lost people they love, and for those who have been hurt."
Tunisia attack2
Prime Minister David Cameron also paid tribute to Mrs Adey. He said: "Our heart goes out to her family. We will do everything we can to help the family at this very difficult time.
He said the attack was "the latest example of extremist terror" and added: "We have to fight it with everything we have, whether that is taking the poison out of young minds here in Britain, whether it's working with intelligence, policing and security services in other countries around the world or whether it's dealing decisively with those areas of the world from which these problems come."
Mr Cameron pledged: "In the end, our values - freedom of speech, democracy, the rule of law - they will win through.
"We must show the persistence and consistency to make sure they do but I'm confident they will."
He said terrorists and extremists "hate democracy".
Mr Cameron said: "We mustn't let democracy, freedom, the rule of law, the things we hold dear and the people of Tunisia hold dear, we must not let them be defeated or undermined by these extremists and terrorists.
"That is the battle we are engaged in but I'm confident if we stick to our values we will win through. "
The Bardo Museum remained ringed by razor wire today as security forces guarded the main roads in Tunis.
Speaking in the aftermath of the tragic event, President Beji Caid Essebsi declared that he will not give up in the battle against terrorism.
"These monstrous minorities do not frighten us," the President said on national TV.
"We will resist them until the deepest end without mercy. Democracy will win and it will survive."
British tour operators confirmed that while thousands of customers are believed to be in the country, "very few" were in the capital where the attack was carried out.
The European Union's foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini blamed the Islamic State terror group for the attack.
The driver of a tourist coach said: "They just started opening fire on the tourists as they were getting out of the buses - I couldn't see anything except blood and the dead."
Television footage showed dozens of people, including elderly foreigners and one man carrying a child, running for shelter in the compound next to the parliament, covered by security forces aiming rifles into the air.
Two militants opened fire on the tourists as they were getting off the buses before fleeing into the museum
The attack on such a high-profile target is a blow for the small North African country that relies heavily on European tourism and has avoided major militant violence since its 2011 uprising to oust autocrat Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali.
Several Islamist militant groups have emerged in Tunisia since the uprising and authorities estimate about 3,000 Tunisians have also joined fighters in Iraq and Syria - raising fears they could return and mount attacks at home.
It followed a string of attempted strikes against the Tunisian authorities, who broke up four alleged terror cells as recently as Monday.
Last month 32 militant Islamists linked to IS were arrested across the North African country, which is where the Arab Spring started in 2011.
Footage from the scene of the Tunisia terror attack on museum
However, the attack on such a high profile target is a huge blow for the small North African country that relies heavily on European tourism and has so far avoided major militant violence since its 2011 uprising.
As the Tunisian economy has collapsed, many radicals have either fled to join IS, or else formed terror cells in their own country.
British Foreign Office travel advice for Tunisia currently reads: "There is a heightened security presence in the centre of the city of Tunis. You should be especially vigilant at this time and follow the advice of Tunisian security authorities and your tour operator.
"There is a high threat from terrorism, including kidnapping. Attacks could be indiscriminate, including in places visited by foreigners."
