text: TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) — Tunisia's health minister says the death toll in a dramatic museum attack has risen to 23 people, including 18 foreign tourists. 
   
   Tunisians holding candles pray at the entrance gate of the National Bardo Museum where scores of people were killed after gunmen staged an attack, Tunis, Wednesday, March 18, 2015. Foreign tourists scrambled... (Associated Press) 
   
   A victim arrives at the Charles Nicoles hospital after gunmen attacked the National Bardo Museum in central Tunis, Wednesday, March 18, 2015. Gunmen opened fire Wednesday at a major museum in Tunisia's... (Associated Press) 
   
   Rescue workers evacuate children, left, and adults after gunmen opened fire at the Bardo museum in Tunisia's capital, Wednesday, March 18, 2015 in Tunis. Authorities say scores of people are dead after... (Associated Press) 
   
   Said Aidi said Thursday that five Tunisians were killed, including the two gunmen. Authorities are searching for two or three other possible accomplices. He said several victims were brought in without identity documents. 
   
   Moncef Hamdoun, an official with the Charles Nicolle hospital where many victims were taken, said seven of the dead remain unidentified. 
   
   Spain's foreign minister said in Valencia that two Spanish tourists were found safe after hiding out in the Tunis museum all night after Wednesday's attack. ||||| Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption The BBC's James Reynolds: "Tunisia has managed to avoid the larger wars which have hit other Arab states, but this attack... reveals its vulnerability" 
   
   A gunman involved in the attack that killed 20 tourists at the Bardo museum in Tunis was known to the authorities, Tunisia's prime minister has said. 
   
   Habib Essid told RTL Radio that security services had flagged up Yassine Laabidi, but were not aware of "anything specific" or of any links to known militant groups. 
   
   A Tunisian police officer also died in Wednesday's attack. 
   
   Both gunmen were killed. A search is on for suspects linked to them. 
   
   Two or three accomplices are still at large, an interior ministry spokesman told AFP news agency. The spokesman said both attackers were "probably" Tunisian. The second gunman has been named as Hatem Khachnaoui. 
   
   The tourists killed in the attack include visitors from Japan, Italy, Colombia, Australia, France, the UK, Poland and Spain, officials said. 
   
   On Thursday, three people - two Spanish tourists and one Tunisian museum worker - were found at the museum after having hidden there overnight, police said. 
   
   Tunisia's Culture Minister, Latifa Lakhdar, told reporters that the museum will re-open to the public early next week. 
   
   Image copyright AFP Image caption The attack targeted one of the most popular tourist attractions in Tunis 
   
   Image copyright AFP Image caption Security services eventually took control of the museum 
   
   Officials say more than 40 people, including tourists and Tunisians, were injured. The gunmen were killed after holding tourists hostage for several hours at the museum. 
   
   Speaking after the attack on national TV, Tunisia's President Beji Caid Essebsi said the country would not be cowed by terror attacks. 
   
   "These monstrous minorities do not frighten us," he said. "We will resist them until the deepest end without mercy." 
   
   At the time of the attack, deputies in the neighbouring parliament building were discussing anti-terrorism legislation. 
   
   Sayida Ounissi, an MP, told BBC Radio Four's Today programme that the security services had said the gunmen had originally planned to attack parliament. 
   
   A statement released by a jihadist media outlet gave a similar account, saying the gunmen began killing tourists after being repelled by police at the parliament. The statement did not say which group carried out the attack. 
   
   Image copyright AP Image caption Protesters lit candles and prayed at the gate of the museum 
   
   Image copyright AP Image caption Security was stepped up across Tunis, including at the museum 
   
   Many Tunisians took to the streets of central Tunis to protest against the attack, waving flags and lighting candles outside the museum. 
   
   World leaders condemned the attack and expressed their support for Tunisia's counter-terrorism efforts. 
   
   The UN Security Council issued a statement saying no terrorist action could reverse Tunisia's path towards democracy. The statement offered condolences to those affected by the attack, and called for the perpetrators to be brought to justice. 
   
   Who were the victims? 
   
   According to Tunisian authorities, 23 people were killed - though it is not clear if totals provided by the authorities include the gunmen. Some of the countries involved have given different totals and not all the dead have been identified. The dead include: 
   
   At least three Tunisians, including a police officer involved in the security operation 
   
   Five Japanese were killed, according to Mr Essid - although Japan says it has only confirmed the deaths of three citizens 
   
   Four Italians 
   
   Two Colombians 
   
   Two Spaniards 
   
   One national each from the UK, Australia, France and Poland 
   
   The attack is a huge blow for Tunisia's tourism industry and its government, which only emerged at the end of a long political transition several months ago, the BBC's Arab affairs editor Sebastian Usher says. 
   
   Islamist militants have tried to derail the democratic transition, which, although fragile, remains the most positive result of the Arab Spring in the Middle East, our correspondent adds. 
   
   Tourism is a key sector of Tunisia's economy, with large numbers of Europeans visiting the country's resorts. 
   
   In 2002, 19 people, including 11 German tourists, were killed in a bomb blast at a synagogue in the resort of Djerba. Al-Qaeda said it had carried out that attack. 
   
   Concerns about security in Tunisia have increased in recent months as neighbouring Libya has become increasingly unstable. 
   
   A large number of Tunisians have also left to fight in Syria and Iraq, triggering worries that returning militants could carry out attacks at home. 
   
   The Bardo National Museum 
   
   Image copyright AFP Image caption The museum is a major attraction in Tunisia ||||| Tunisia’s presidency says four arrests have been made in connection with the attack as civil society groups call for silent demonstration on Thursday 
   
   More protests against the deadly attack at Tunisia’s Bardo national museum are planned for Thursday, as the prime minister said one of the two gunmen was known to security services. 
   
   The country is in shock after two Tunisian gunmen killed 18 tourists and three Tunisians on Wednesday in the deadliest attack on civilians in the country for 13 years. The gunmen were shot dead by security forces. 
   
   
   
   On Thursday afternoon security forces arrested four people in connection with the attack, Reuters reported the president’s office as saying. The army will also be deployed to increase security in Tunisia’s major cities. 
   
   In an interview with France’s RTL radio on Thursday morning, the prime minister, Habib Essid, said Tunisia was working with other countries to learn more about the attackers, identified as Yassine Laabidi and Hatem Khachnaoui. He said Laabidi had been flagged to intelligence, although not for “anything special”. 
   
   The night before, the newly elected president Beji Caid Essebsi gave an address to the nation in which he said: “I want the people of Tunisia to understand firstly and lastly that we are in a war with terror, and these savage minority groups will not frighten us. 
   
   
   
   “The fight against them will continue until they are exterminated.” 
   
   Authorities have launched a manhunt for two or three suspected accomplices in the attack. 
   
   Hours after the police ended the siege, thousands of Tunisians flocked to the capital’s main thoroughfare, Avenue Habib Bourguiba, waving red Tunisian flags and singing songs from the 2011 Arab spring revolution. 
   
   
   
   Mohammed Nasri, a young activist, said: “After the last election we thought we made a big step forward to real democracy, but what happened today was like a KO to our future. An attack so close to our parliament makes us speechless.” 
   
   Tunisia’s main trade union confederation and other civil society groups called for a silent demonstration later on Thursday outside the Bardo museum. The groups called on Tunisians to gather at 3pm GMT “to demonstrate our national unity in the fight against terrorism”. 
   
   Tunisia’s health minister, Said Aidi, said the number of dead had risen on Thursday to 23 people, including 18 foreign tourists, with almost 50 people wounded. Five Tunisians were killed, including two attackers. Aidi said all the injuries came from bullet wounds, and that several victims were brought in without identity documents. 
   
   As well as three Tunisian nationals, the gunmen killed four Italians, three Japanese, two Colombians, two Spaniards, an Australian, a Briton, a Pole and a French national. The nationalities of the other murdered tourists were not confirmed, but reports said an unknown number of South African tourists may have been involved. 
   
   
   
   Facebook Twitter Pinterest A woman holds a placard which reads ‘We are all Bardo’. Photograph: Chedly Ben Ibrahim/Demotix/Corbis 
   
   Spain’s foreign minister said two Spaniards who survived the attack hid inside the museum building all night. Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo said Juan Carlos Sanchez and Cristina Rubio, who is four months pregnant, appeared after dawn on Thursday and were well. 
   
   The targeting of tourists by terrorists is a new phenomenon in Tunisia and a big blow to a country whose struggling post-revolution economy depends largely on its beach resorts and foreign visitors. Tunisia, which peacefully elected a new parliament in December, has prided itself as a model of political transition since the overthrow of the brutal authoritarian Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali in 2011, in contrast to the post-revolutionary difficulties of its troubled neighbours. 
   
   
   
   Facebook Twitter Pinterest Tunisian soldiers guarding the Bardo museum on Wednesday night. Photograph: Michel Euler/AP 
   
   But it has also been struggling to tackle the growing terrorist threat in the region and thousands of Tunisians have left to fight foreign jihad. The attack immediately raised questions about the Islamist terrorist threat to Tunisia amid mounting anxiety that jihadi violence is spilling over the border from neighbouring Libya, as well as Algeria. 
   
   Wednesday night’s protests took place close to the French embassy, which has been ringed by barbed wire and concrete barriers for many months, a sign of the apprehension the city feels about the threat of terrorist attack. 
   
   That threat has become real with the killings at the Bardo museum, in what is the first jihadi strike against civilians in Tunisia since its 2011 revolution; previously militants had restricted attacks to military and government targets. 
   
   “Today’s murderous assault targeted not only tourists and Tunisians but also the tolerant and rights-respecting society that Tunisians have been struggling to build,” said Eric Goldstein of Human Rights Watch. 
   
   The dilemma for many Tunisians now is how the government should respond: many are proud of their break from dictatorship, but worry about how the government can crack down on terrorism while preserving hard-won freedoms. 
   
   Tunisia's clear and present danger Read more 
   
   “Everybody is shocked,” said Houeida Anouar, of Huffington Post Maghreb. “The government now has a huge responsibility. I hated the state when you had no rights. I don’t want Tunisians to go there, it would be a horrible back-pedalling.” 
   
   The attack began just after midday as gunmen armed with Kalashnikovs opened fire in front of the Bardo museum, the country’s largest and an important tourist attraction, which houses one of the world’s biggest collections of Roman mosaics within a 19th-century palace adjacent to parliament. As the gunmen struck, tourists were getting out of coaches to visit the museum on a spring day that had seen scores of visitors, many from cruise ships docked in the port for the day. 
   
   Wafel Bouzi, a guide with a Spanish-speaking group, told journalists that on exiting the museum with his group, he saw in the car park “a young 25-year-old man, dressed normally, without a beard” who was holding a Kalashnikov. “I thought he was playing with it. Then he opened fire.” 
   
   'Our hearts are black': Tunisians in shock after gunmen target tourists in capital Read more 
   
   The gunmen began shooting near the coaches then entered the museum where hundreds of panicked visitors had taken refuge. Josep Lluís Cusidó, mayor of the small Catalan town of Vallmoll, was at the museum as part of a wedding anniversary trip with his wife. “A few men walked in and started shooting. We’re alive thanks to a miracle,” he told the Spanish news agency Efe. “These men suddenly started shooting and people started falling to the ground dead and things started falling from the ceiling … Everything happened so fast.” 
   
   Two Britons were “caught up in” the shootings, the British Foreign Office said, but did not specify whether they were among the dead or injured. 
   
   Wednesday’s attack was the worst since 2002, when an al-Qaida militant killed 21 people, mostly German tourists, after detonating a truck bomb in front of a historic synagogue on the Tunisian island of Djerba in 2002. 
   
   Facebook Twitter Pinterest Escorted by security forces, rescue workers bring a stretcher to the Bardo museum on Wednesday. Photograph: Salah Ben Mahmoud/AP 
   
   It came days after the death of Ahmed Al-Rouissi, a Tunisian also known as Abu Zakariya Al-Tunisi, who led a contingent of Islamic State fighters in Libya. He was killed in clashes with Libyan troops near the town of Sirte, a stronghold of followers of Muammar Gaddafi, the late Libyan strongman. 
   
   Tunisian commentators speculated there might be a connection between his death and Wednesday’s deadly attack. Pro-Isis Twitter accounts hailed the attack as “ghazwat Tunis” or the “raid of Tunis” (ghazwa is the description given to the early Islamic battles) and have cheered on the attackers. A purported Isis video from last December threatened attacks on Tunisia. 
   
   
   
   
   
   The Associated Press contributed to this report 
   
   ||||| Image copyright AFP Image caption Security is being heightened following the attack on the museum in Tunis 
   
   Nine people have been arrested in connection with a gun attack in Tunis that saw 23 people killed on Wednesday, including 20 foreign tourists. 
   
   Tunisia's presidency said four of those arrested 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 said it was behind the attack on the Bardo museum, using an audio message to praise two "knights of the caliphate". 
   
   The message, posted on Twitter accounts known to be reliable sources of IS propaganda, named the attackers as Abu-Zakariya al-Tunisi and Abu-Anas al-Tunisi. 
   
   A statement described the attack as a "blessed invasion of one of the dens of infidels and vice in Muslim Tunisia". 
   
   Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption The BBC's Fergal Keane: "47 people are still being treated in hospital" 
   
   One of two gunmen involved in the Bardo museum attack, named by Tunisian officials as Yassine Laabidi, was reportedly known to the authorities. 
   
   Tunisian Prime Minister Habib Essid told RTL Radio that security services had flagged him up but were not aware of "anything specific", or of any links to known militant groups. 
   
   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 IS. Jihadist groups, including IS, often give their fighters noms de guerre. 
   
   Tourists from Japan, Colombia, Australia, the UK, and several other European countries were killed in the attack and more than 40 people were injured. 
   
   Analysis by Frank Gardner, BBC security correspondent 
   
   The claim by so-called Islamic State, if authentic, that it carried out Wednesday's attack in Tunis, needs to be seen in context. IS does not control any territory in Tunisia, there is no IS "province" as exists in Syria and Iraq. 
   
   Tunisia, unlike its unfortunate neighbour Libya, is a modern, functioning state with an elected government and trained police and security forces. That said, Tunisia suffers from a number of factors that make it ripe for exploitation by IS, which would surely like to include it in an eventual string of North African provinces stretching all the way from Egypt to Nigeria. 
   
   Between 3,000 and 5,000 Tunisians have gone to join IS, with an estimated 500 having returned. There is chaos to the east in Libya and jihadists hiding on the border with Algeria. There are also many young, dissatisfied Tunisians who feel economically and politically frustrated, the very reason why Tunisia became the birthplace of the Arab Spring in 2011. 
   
   Islamic State builds on al-Qaeda lands 
   
   The suspects arrested on Thursday were not identified and no further details were given of their alleged involvement. 
   
   However, BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner says an al-Qaeda operative has claimed that the two gunmen had spent two months training with militants in Derna, eastern Libya, before slipping back into Tunisia. 
   
   In a statement, Tunisia's presidency said the country was facing "exceptional circumstances". 
   
   "After a meeting with the armed forces, the president has decided large cities will be secured by the army," the statement added. 
   
   Later on Thursday, US President Barack Obama called his Tunisian counterpart to Mohamed Beji Caid Essebsi to offer "sympathy, on behalf of all Americans, to the victims' families and loved ones", the White House said. 
   
   It added: "The president affirmed our continued robust co-operation on counterterrorism and broader security issues with the Tunisian government and offered continued US assistance and support in the ongoing investigation." 
   
   Tourism hit 
   
   As Tunisia attempted to come to terms with the attack, a large anti-terrorism protest took place at the site of the attack. 
   
   People carried banners calling for peace and lit candles in memory of the dead. 
   
   The BBC's Aidan Lewis, in Tunis, says many of the demonstrators were from the country's coastal elite - who often hold different views from those living in the interior. 
   
   Image copyright Twitter 
   
   Witnesses to the attack said the gunmen, carrying assault rifles, opened fire on tourists outside the museum in front of a row of buses before charging inside and taking hostages. 
   
   On Thursday, 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. 
   
   Image copyright BBC/AFP 
   
   The attack is a huge blow for Tunisia's tourism industry and its government, which only emerged at the end of a long political transition several months ago, the BBC's Arab affairs editor Sebastian Usher says. 
   
   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 said that three passengers from the Costa Fascinosa had died. Eight others were injured and two were unaccounted for, company CEO Michael Thamm said. 
   
   Who were the victims? 
   
   According to Tunisian authorities, 23 people were killed - though it is not clear if totals provided by the authorities include the gunmen. Some of the countries involved have given different totals and not all the dead have been identified. The dead include: 
   
   At least three Tunisians, including a police officer involved in the security operation 
   
   Five Japanese were killed, according to Mr Essid - although Japan says it has only confirmed the deaths of three citizens 
   
   Four Italians 
   
   Two Colombians 
   
   Two Spaniards 
   
   One national each from the UK, Australia, France and Poland 
   
   Survivors' stories 
   
   Image copyright AFP Image caption The area outside the museum is still covered in blood stains from the attack 
   
   At the time of the attack, deputies in the neighbouring parliament building were discussing anti-terrorism legislation. 
   
   Sayida Ounissi, an MP, told BBC Radio Four's Today programme that according to the security services the gunmen had originally planned to attack parliament. 
   
   A statement released by a jihadist media outlet gave a similar account, saying the gunmen began killing tourists after being repelled by police at the parliament. The statement did not say which group carried out the attack. 
   
   Tunisia began a transition to democracy in 2011 with the overthrow of long-serving ruler Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali. 
   
   Hardline Islamists have tried hard to derail the process and security concerns have increased as neighbouring Libya has become increasingly unstable. 
   
   A large number of Tunisians have also left to fight in Syria and Iraq, triggering worries that returning militants could carry out attacks at home. 
   
   Tunisia's Culture Minister, Latifa Lakhdar, told reporters that the museum would re-open to the public early next week. ||||| Tunisians took to the streets of their capital last night to denounce the terrorist attacks on a museum which left 19 innocent people dead and around 40 wounded . 
   
   Large crowds gathered in the centre of Tunis, waving flags, singing the national anthem and shouting slogans against the gunmen who launched the daylight attack on the Bardo Museum, famous for its collections of ancient Roman mosaics and other antiquities. 
   
   Tunisians light candles at the entrance gate of the National Bardo Museum (AP) 
   
   People also lit candles outside the museum in memory of the 17 tourists and two Tunisians who were shot dead by at least two gunmen. 
   
   One of the Tunisians was a policeman. According to the latest information, the dead tourists included three Japanese, three Italians, two Colombians, two Spaniards, an Australian, a Pole and a person from France. 
   
   The Colombians were a mother and child visiting Tunisia on a family holiday, their government said. The father survived the attack. 
   
   
   
   People escape from the Bardo Museum during the assault (AFP/Getty) 
   
   The hashtags #JeSuisBardo and #JeSuisTunisien were trending on Twitter, as people around the world expressed their solidarity with the latest country to suffer a murderous attack by Islamist extremists. 
   
   They were an echo of the #JeSuisCharlie phenomenon that arose after the terrorist attacks on the offices of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris in January. 
   
   Some Twitter uses posted photos of themselves holding up signs saying “I will come to Tunisia this summer”, amid fears that the terrorist attack could cripple the country’s tourism industry. 
   
   More accounts of the terrifying attack emerged on Thursday, with tourists describing how they desperately tried to seek some sort of cover as the gunmen opened fire with Kalashnikov assault rifles. 
   
   
   
   People being held hostage by gunmen in the Bardo museum 
   
   Among the wounded Japanese tourists was Noriko Yuki, 35, who was visiting the museum with her mother. 
   
   "I was crouching down with my arms over my head, but I was shot in the ear, hand and neck," she said from her hospital bed, in footage broadcast by a Japanese television channel. 
   
   "My mother beside me was shot in the neck. Mother couldn't move by herself when the police came over.” 
   
   Yuki did not say exactly what had happened to her 68-year-old mother, only that she was rushed to a separate hospital for surgery. 
   
   Fabienne, a French tourist, recounted how she and others hid in one of the museum's galleries along with their guide. 
   
   "We couldn't see anything, but there must have been a lot of them. We were afraid that, at any moment, they would come and kill us," she told France's BFM television. 
   
   Dhouha Belhaj Alaya, a museum employee, said she heard "intense gunfire". 
   
   "My co-workers were screaming 'Run! Run! Shots are being fired!'" she told AFP. "We escaped out the back door with co-workers and some tourists." 
   
   The attack was the worst on foreigners in Tunisia since an Al-Qaeda suicide bombing of a synagogue killed 14 Germans, two French and five Tunisians on the island of Djerba in 2002. 
   
   There has been increasing concern about the potential destabilisation of Tunisia as neighbouring Libya descends further into conflict between rival governments in Tripoli and Tobruk as well as fighting between militias. 
   
   An estimated 3,000 Tunisians have flocked to the black flag of Isil in Syria and Iraq – the largest number of fighters from a single country. ||||| TUNIS Gunmen wearing military uniforms stormed Tunisia's national museum on Wednesday, killing 17 foreign tourists and two Tunisians in one of the worst militant attacks in a country that had largely escaped the region's "Arab Spring" turmoil. 
   
   Five Japanese as well as visitors from Italy, Poland and Spain were among the dead in the noon assault on Bardo museum inside the heavily guarded parliament compound in central Tunis, Prime Minister Habib Essid said. 
   
   "They just started opening fire on the tourists as they were getting out of the buses ... I couldn't see anything except blood and the dead," the driver of a tourist coach told journalists at the scene. 
   
   Scores of visitors fled into the museum and the militants - who authorities did not immediately link to any extremist group - took hostages inside, officials said. Security forces entered around two hours later, killed two militants and freed the captives, a government spokesman said. A police officer died in the operation. 
   
   The attack on such a high-profile target is a blow for the small North African country that relies heavily on European tourism and has mostly avoided major militant violence since its 2011 uprising to oust autocrat Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali. 
   
   Several Islamist militant groups have emerged in Tunisia since the uprising, and authorities estimate about 3,000 Tunisians have also joined fighters in Iraq and Syria -- igniting fears they could return and mount attacks at home. 
   
   "All Tunisians should be united after this attack which was aimed at destroying the Tunisian economy," Prime Minister Essid declared in a national address. 
   
   The local stock exchange dropped nearly 2.5 percent and two German tour operators said they were cancelling trips from Tunisia's beach resorts to Tunis for a few days. 
   
   Accor, Europe’s largest hotel group, said it had tightened security at its two hotels in Tunisia. 
   
   U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry joined leaders from Europe condemning the attack and said Washington continued "to support the Tunisian government's efforts to advance a secure, prosperous, and democratic Tunisia." 
   
   Television footage showed dozens of people, including elderly foreigners and one man carrying a child, running for shelter in the museum compound, covered by security forces aiming rifles into the air. 
   
   The Tunisian premier said 17 tourists were killed, including four Italians, a French citizen, a Pole, two Colombians, five Japanese, an Australian and two Spaniards. He had previous mentioned a German fatality, but did not mention that in later statements. Two Tunisians were killed. 
   
   The museum is known for its collection of ancient Tunisian artifacts and mosaics and other treasures from classical Rome and Greece. There were no immediate reports that the attackers had copied Islamic State militants in Iraq by targeting exhibits seen by hardliners as idolatrous. 
   
   Bardo's white-walled halls set in the parliament compound are one of the most popular tourist attractions in the Tunisian capital. Many tourists come for day trips to Tunis from nearby Mediterranean beach resorts. 
   
   Shocked but defiant, hundreds of Tunisians later gathered in the streets of downtown Tunis waving the country's red and white crescent flag, and chanting against terrorism. 
   
   "I pass this message to Tunisians, that democracy will win and it will survive," President Beji Caid Essebsi said in a television statement. "We will find more ways and equipment for the army to wipe out these barbarous groups for good." 
   
   A MODEL OF COMPROMISE 
   
   Tunisia's uprising inspired "Arab Spring" revolts in neighboring Libya and in Egypt, Syria and Yemen. But its adoption of a new constitution and staging of largely peaceful elections had won widespread praise and stood in stark contrast to the chaos that has plagued those countries. 
   
   After a crisis between secular leaders and the Islamist party which won the country's first post-revolt election, Tunisia has emerged as a model of compromise politics and transition to democracy for the region. 
   
   But the attack comes at a challenging time with Tunisia planning to reform its economy and cutback on public spending. Tourism represents around 7 percent of the gross domestic product. 
   
   Security forces have already clashed with some Islamist militants, including Ansar al-Sharia which is listed as a terrorist group by Washington. But until Wednesday most attacks were in remote areas, often near the border with Algeria. 
   
   Another group is holed up in the mountains along the Algerian border where the army has spent months trying to destroy their camps. 
   
   Affiliates of Islamic State militants fighting in Iraq and Syria have also been gaining ground in North Africa, especially in the chaotic environment of Tunisia's neighbor Libya, where two rival governments are battling for control. 
   
   A senior Tunisian militant was killed while fighting for Islamic State in the Libyan city of Sirte over the past week. Security sources said he had been operating training camps and logistics. 
   
   "An attack like this could strike the fragile transition in Tunisia, especially the tourism industry," said local political analyst Nourredine Mbarki. "The problem is now these groups have gone from being in mountains and borders to hit the capital and targets with high security." 
   
   Wednesday's assault was the worst attack involving foreigners in Tunisia since an al Qaeda suicide bombing on a synagogue killed 21 people on the tourist island of Djerba in 2002. 
   
   The most recent attack on the tourism industry in 2013 when a militant blew himself up at the Tunisian beach resort of Sousse, but no one else was killed or wounded. Another bomber was caught at a presidential monument before he blew himself up. 
   
   (Additional reporting by Valentina Consiglio in Italy; Writing by Patrick Markey; Editing by Andrew Heavens and Diane Craft) ||||| WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland has sent a plane with doctors and diplomats to Tunisia to help and bring back Poles injured in a gun attack in a museum in Tunis. 
   
   Foreign Minister Grzegorz Schetyna said Thursday morning that according to information he has at the moment, two Poles were killed in the attack, two are missing and nine were hospitalized with injuries that are not life-threatening. 
   
   President Bronislaw Komorowski stressed that Tunisian authorities are still identifying the victims and the numbers could change. 
   
   National flags on government buildings were flown half-staff in a sign of mourning. 
   
   Doctors, psychologists and consular officials have flown to Tunis. Some 300 Polish tourists are in Tunisia, according to tourist offices. ||||| TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) — Spanish tourist Juan Carlos Sanchez was waiting in Tunisia's leading museum to go have lunch with his tour guide when a man came streaking past, fleeing gunshots. 
   
   Policemen guard the entrance of the Bardo museum in Tunis, Tunisia, Thursday, March 19, 2015, a day after gunmen opened fire killing over 20 people, mainly tourists. One of the two gunmen who killed... (Associated Press) 
   
   As gunmen fired on tourists, Sanchez and Cristina Rubio, who is four months pregnant, hid in fear — and stayed in hiding all night, hours after police killed the two gunmen and the museum's other visitors were escorted to safety. 
   
   "We saw a man come running in chased by the shots of a terrorist. We just saw the man who hit the floor and realized that someone was shooting and went to hide," Sanchez told The Associated Press in the maternity ward of a Tunis hospital Thursday. 
   
   "We hid in a small room and that's where we stayed until the police saw us today and then we left." 
   
   Sanchez's voice was steady but his eyes were still wide as he recounted the attack and ensuing all-night vigil at the National Bardo Museum in Tunis. 
   
   "We spent all night there and we thought the terrorists were still outside," he said. "But it was simply the police who were searching for people. We thought they were terrorists out there and that's why we didn't venture out." 
   
   After they emerged safely Thursday after dawn, Rubio sat in the maternity ward, in a bed with a tray of uneaten couscous and other hospital food, smiling as they received a visit from Health Minister Said Aidi. 
   
   Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo told reporters in Valencia that Spanish consular officials and police had searched all night for the couple, who were neither listed among the 23 dead nor among those found safe after Wednesday's attack on the National Bardo Museum in Tunis. 
   
   ___ 
   
   Harold Heckle in Madrid contributed to this report.
target: – "We are in a war with terror, and these savage minority groups will not frighten us," Tunisia's President Beji Caid Essebsi vowed in the wake of a terrorist attack that has now killed 18 foreign tourists and three Tunisians, plus the two gunmen. "The fight against them will continue until they are exterminated," he said in a speech last night, per the Guardian. He promised that "democracy will win and it will survive" as large numbers of demonstrators gathered in Tunis to protest the attack, reports Reuters. Meanwhile, ISIS militants today claimed responsibility for the attack, reports the BBC. But in a bright spot, two Spanish tourists who hid in the museum all night have now been found safe; Juan Carlos Sanchez tells the AP that "we thought the terrorists were still outside. But it was simply the police who were searching for people." Cristina Rubio is four months pregnant; both are fine. In other developments: Prime Minister Habib Essi says one of the two gunmen, Yassine Laabidi, was known to authorities, but security services were unaware of links to militant groups, the BBC reports. Both gunmen were killed by security forces, and authorities say they're still hunting several accomplices. Tunisia has now detained a total of nine people. Officials say tourists from Japan, Italy, Colombia, Australia, France, Poland, and Spain were killed in the attack, according to the BBC. Poland, which has sent a plane with doctors to help treat the injured, says two of its citizens were killed, two are missing, and nine are among the 40 or so wounded, the AP reports. Tunisia, birthplace of the Arab Spring, is the "Arab world's most successful democracy," which may have made it more of a target, but there are fears the attack could lead to greater authoritarianism, reports the New York Times. ISIS supporters are praising the attack online, as per the Times. The Telegraph reports that Tunisian media are speculating that Ahmed al-Rouissi, the country's most-wanted terrorist, may be involved. The Tunisian government says he became a senior ISIS leader in Libya and was killed in fighting last weekend. Tunisian officials have speculated that the adjacent Parliament building may have been the attackers' initial target, and that they may have switched to the museum because it had less security, the New York Times reports.