Gunmen killed 19 people and sent tourists scrambling for cover in a siege at a museum in Tunisia's capital on Wednesday.
The North African nation's Prime Minister called it a cowardly terrorist attack and warned that three suspects were still on the loose.
Tunisian security forces killed two attackers as they ended the hostage siege at the Bardo Museum in Tunis, Prime Minister Habib Essid said. But the death toll, which included 17 tourists and at least one Tunisian security officer, could climb.
Polish, Italian, German and Spanish tourists were among those killed, Essid said, with another 20 foreign tourists and two Tunisians wounded in the attack.
"It's a cowardly attack mainly targeting the economy of Tunisia," the Prime Minister said. "We should unite to defend our country."
The scene played out at a popular tourist destination in the heart of Tunisia's capital in a building linked to where the nation's parliament meets.
Lawmakers there were in the middle of a committee meeting when they heard gunfire erupt.
"The tourists were frightened and they were running in different directions. We opened the doors and we got them to enter to the Parliament," lawmaker Mehrezia Labidi told CNN's Christiane Amanpour.
An administrator told lawmakers to lay down on the ground as a gunbattle broke out between terrorists and police, said Sabrine Ghoubatini, a member of parliament.
It wasn't long before the building was evacuated.
Photos on Twitter showed security forces in bulletproof vests and black helmets and masks, guns drawn, in the area. Authorities set up a large security cordon around the targeted museum.
Rescuers carried wounded tourists away on stretchers.
Essid didn't specify where the attackers came from. Interior Ministry spokesman Mohamed Ali Aroui called them Islamists in remarks on national radio.
Source: cnn.
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