The two gunmen who killed 21 people in an attack on foreign tourists at a museum in Tunisia’s capital trained at a camp for fighters in Libya, the country’s secretary of state for security said.
“They left the country illegally last December for Libya and they were able to train with weapons there,” Rafik Chelly told the private AlHiwar Ettounsi television channel.
The two gunmen were named by authorities as Yassine Abidi and Hatem Khachnaoui and were killed in a security operation that followed the assault on the museum.
Officials said no formal links to a particular armed group had been established, although the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant group reportedly released audio recordings claiming responsibility for the attack on the National Bardo Museum.
Chelly said that Abidi had been arrested before making his way to Libya, without providing details.
Wednesday’s attack in central Tunis was the country’s worst since the 2011 uprising that toppled strongman Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
The security chief said the two gunmen had been “from sleeper cells” present in several areas.
“We know they can launch operations but we must piece together clues in order to conduct an arrest,” Chelly said late on Thursday.
