President vows to wage war against terrorism

In the wake of the terrorist attack on a museum in Tunis, Tunisian president, Beij Caid Essebsi has promised to wage a "merciless war against terrorism".

The president assured Tunisians that terrorism will be fought "to our last breath". He said further:

"I want the Tunisian people to understand that we are in a war against terrorism and that these savage minorities do not frighten us, we will fight them without mercy to our last breath."

Yesterday, gunmen dressed in military uniforms attacked the Bardo museum and opened fire on tourists including people from Japan, Italy, France, Australia, Colombia, Poland, Spain and Tunisia as well. They then proceeded to chase them into the museum.

According to Al Jazeera, 17 foreign tourists - 3 Japanese, 4 Italians, 2 Colombians and 1 each from Australia, France, Poland and Spain and 2 Tunisians were killed in the attack.

Among those killed were a Colombian mother and child who were visiting Tunisia on a family holiday, the father however survived the attack.

There have however been differing figures given by other governments and there was conflicting information over the breakdown, with some of the dead identified as joint nationals.

The attack has drawn strong condemnation from world leaders, who vowed support for Tunisia. It also sparked outrage from Tunisians as hundreds of people gathered later in a major thoroughfare of the capital, singing the national anthem and shouting slogans against the attackers, labelling them terrorists.