Qualla: Bardo National Museum Attack

Bardo National Museum Attack: Introduction

Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Members of parliament were debating counter-terrorism legislation when they heard the gunfire. It was around 12:30 in the afternoon on March 18, 2015, and two gunmen had opened fire on tourists stepping off a bus at the Bardo National Museum compound in Tunis. The bitter irony of the timing -- lawmakers discussing how to prevent exactly this kind of attack while it unfolded next door -- captured the shock that followed. Twenty-two people would die, most of them European tourists who had come to see one of the Mediterranean's greatest collections of Roman mosaics. Around fifty more were injured. It was the deadliest terrorist attack in Tunisian history.

Bardo National Museum Attack: Three Hours of Terror

Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

More than 200 tourists were in the vicinity of the museum when the attack began. As gunfire erupted, visitors from cruise ships docked at the port of La Goulette ran toward the museum building seeking cover, only to find themselves pursued by the attackers, who took hostages insi...

Bardo National Museum Attack: The Attackers' Path

Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Labidi, a deliveryman from the Tunis neighborhood of Ibn Khaldoun, and Khachnaoui, from the southern city of Kasserine, had traveled to Libya in December 2014 and received weapons training from militant groups in Derna. Tunisian Security Minister Rafik Chelly confirmed they had s...

Bardo National Museum Attack: Tunisia Responds

Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The response from Tunisian society was swift and unambiguous. Anti-terrorism protests began in central Tunis within hours, with crowds chanting, "Tunisia is free, terrorism out." On March 24, less than a week after the attack, the Bardo Museum held a ceremonial reopening as thous...

Bardo National Museum Attack: Memory and Endurance

Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The attack tested a young democracy that had only recently navigated its first peaceful transfer of power. President Beji Caid Essebsi ordered Tunisian troops deployed to major cities as a precaution and called for the swift passage of anti-terrorism legislation. The museum itsel...