‘Suicidal’ US tycoon Durst moved to jail mental unit
LOS ANGELES: Eccentric US tycoon Robert Durst has been transferred to a jail for mentally ill inmates after his arrest for the killing of a mobster’s daughter, an official said Wednesday. Media reports suggested Durst was suicidal, but the official in the local sheriff’s office said he was moved on health grounds. TUNIS: Kalashnikov-wielding gunmen killed at least 20 foreign tourists in a brazen attack Wednesday on Tunisia’s national museum before being killed in a police assault, officials said. Around 42 people were hurt.
Polish, Italian, German and Spanish tourists were among the dead, Prime Minister Habib Essid said, adding that two gunmen had been killed. A Tunisian national and a policeman were also reported dead.
Essid said the gunmen, dressed in military uniforms, opened fire on the tourists as they were disembarking from a bus and chased them inside the Bardo museum near parliament, in central Tunis.
At the time of the attack deputies in the neighbouring parliamentary building were discussing anti-terrorism legislation. Parliament was evacuated following the assault.
The attack began at a time when hundreds of visitors were on their way into the museum. Interior ministry officials said the gunmen were armed with grenades and assault rifles.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack but Tunisia — the birthplace of the Arab Spring revolutionary movement — has struggled to tackle a rise in attacks from Islamist extremists.
A disproportionately large number of Tunisian recruits some 3,000 - have joined Islamic State fighters in Syria and Iraq.
European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said Islamic State militants, who have become particularly active in neighbouring Libya, were behind the attack.
The assault appears to be the worst on foreigners in Tunisia since an Al-Qaeda suicide bombing on a synagogue killed 14 Germans, two French and five Tunisians on the island of Djerba in 2002. The shooting happened at the Bardo Museum, which is next to the parliament building in central Tunis.
Twenty-two people, including 20 foreign tourists, have been killed
Two gunmen had taken hostages in the museum. They were later killed by the police PM Habib Essid condemns ‘cowardly’ attack LIBYA Security concerns in Tunisia high with neighbouring Libya becoming increasingly unstable. A large number of Tunisians, around 3,000, have joined the Islamic State group to fight in Syria and Iraq