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Yassine Laabidi

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A video released by the Tunisian government shows gunmen walking through the Bardo museum during the attack that killed 25 people on March 18.

At one point the security camera footage, released by the interior ministry, shows the two attackers bumping into another man who is allowed to flee after the brief encounter.

Authorities said they had arrested more suspects in connection with the attack in the capital, Tunis.

The gunmen are said to have been trained in Libya in an area controlled by Islamic State (ISIS) militants.

ISIS has said it was behind the attack on the Bardo museum, which is next to Tunisia’s parliament.Security video Tunisia Bardo museum attack

The men, named as Yassine Laabidi and Hatem Khachnaoui, were killed in a gunfight with security forces inside the building. At least one of them was wearing an explosives belt.

Twenty foreigners were among those killed, including British, Japanese, French, Italian and Colombian tourists.

The footage shows the men carrying assault rifles and bags as they walk through the museum.

It also captures the moment a startled visitor comes face to face with them. The gunmen briefly point their guns at the man but allow him to run away as they make their way up a staircase.

Earlier, a spokeswoman for the prosecutor said substantial progress had been made in the investigation – but she did not give any details.

Authorities have arrested more than 20 suspects since the attack, including 10 people believed to have been directly involved.

“There is a large-scale campaign against the extremists,” interior ministry spokesman Mohamed Ali Aroui told reporters.

Tunisia has seen an upsurge in Islamist extremism since the 2011 revolution that ousted dictator Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali and sparked the Arab Spring.

The leader of Tunisia’s moderate Islamist party, Ennadha, says the country will continue to be under threat of attack as long as neighboring Libya remains unstable.

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Tunisian authorities have arrested 9 people in connection with Bardo Museum attack in Tunis on March 18, the Tunisian presidency says.

The attack left 23 people dead, including 20 foreign tourists.

It alleged that four were directly linked to the attack and five had “ties to the cell”.

The army will also be deployed to major cities, the presidency added.

In another development, Islamic State (ISIS) said in an audio message that it was behind the attack.

It said the attack was carried out by “two knights of the caliphate” and named them as Abu-Zakariya al-Tunisi and Abu-Anas al-Tunisi.

Photo Getty Images

Photo Getty Images

A statement described the attack as a “blessed invasion of one of the dens of infidels and vice in Muslim Tunisia”.

The statement was published by Twitter accounts known to be reliable sources of ISIS propaganda.

One of two gunmen involved in the Bardo Museum attack, named by Tunisian officials as Yassine Laabidi, was reportedly known to the authorities.

Yassine Laabidi and his accomplice, named as Hatem Khachnaoui, were killed as security forces stormed the museum.

It was not immediately clear how the identities of the gunmen corresponded to the names given by ISIS. Jihadist groups, including ISIS, often give their fighters noms de guerre.

Tourists from Japan, Colombia, the UK and other European countries were killed in the attack and more than 40 people were injured.

The suspects arrested on March 19 were not identified and no further details of their alleged involvement were given.

In a statement, the presidency said Tunisia was facing “exceptional circumstances”, adding that “terrorist operations have now moved from the mountains to the cities”.

“After a meeting with the armed forces, the president has decided large cities will be secured by the army,” the statement added.

On March 19, two Spanish tourists and a Tunisian museum worker were found at the museum after having hidden there overnight believing the attack might not have been over, police said.

Two cruise companies – MSC Cruises and Costa Cruises – said they were suspending stopovers in Tunis.

MSC said in a statement that at least nine of those killed had been passengers on its MSC Splendida cruise ship which was docked in Tunis. It said another 12 of its passengers were injured and six were still unaccounted for.

Costa Cruises said that three passengers from the Costa Fascinosa had died. Eight others were injured and two were unaccounted for, company CEO Michael Thamm said in a statement.

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