In this frame made from CCTV and released by the Tunisian government on Saturday March 21 2015, two gunmen and third unidentified man can be seen inside the Bardo museum in Tunis.(Photo: AP)
Surveillance video of two gunmen walking through a museum in an attack that killed 21 people has been released by the Tunisian government.
The footage, released by the Tunisian Interior Ministry on Saturday, shows the attackers carrying bags and assault rifles. They encounter a man as he comes down some stairs and point their weapons at him, before he flees.
The gunmen stormed the museum, a popular tourist attraction in the capital of Tunis on Wednesday, taking hostages and gunning down civilians before being killed by police. At least one of them was wearing an explosives belt, according to media reports. Most of the dead were foreign tourists, 17 of them from cruise ships.
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On Thursday, police said they arrested nine people, five of them described as being directly tied to the two gunmen, while the other four were accused of having ties to the terrorist cell involved.
On Saturday, authorities said more than 20 suspected militants were arrested, including 10 believed to have been directly involved in the attack.
The slain gunmen were identified as Yassine Laabidi and Hatem Khachnaoui, both Tunisians. Prime Minister Habib Essid said Laabidi had been flagged by intelligence authorities, although not for "anything special."
The Islamic State released an online recording claiming responsibility for the shooting rampage. However social media accounts linked to a group in Tunisia affiliated with al-Qaeda also published purported details of the operation, Reuters reported.
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Laabidi's brother on Saturday described him as a sociable person who "enjoyed a drink with mates," according to the BBC.
He said his brother was "brainwashed by swines who send young men to their death in the name of religion," the broadcaster reported. The government said the two gunmen trained in jihadi camps in Libya before the attack, according to Reuters.
More than 3,000 Tunisians have joined Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria, the Tunisian government estimates. Training camps in neighboring Libya provide easy access to the fight for Tunisian Muslims discontent with the fledgling democracy in Tunis.
Tunisia has struggled with militants since a revolution ousted President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in 2011. Since then, there have been assassinations of liberal, secular politicians and attacks on tourist haunts.
A number of cruise lines have canceled calls in Tunisia following the attack.
Contributing: John Bacon and William M. Welch
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