Silent Demonstration Called Outside Tunis Attack Museum

Tunisia's main trade union confederation and other civil society groups called for a silent demonstration today outside the Tunis museum where 17 foreign tourists and two Tunisians were killed.

The groups called on Tunisians to gather at 1500 GMT outside the National Bardo Museum "to demonstrate our national unity in the fight against terrorism."

No group has claimed on Wednesday's attack, in which gunmen dressed in military uniforms opened fire at visitors as they got off a bus and then chased them inside the museum.

The attack, which lasted about four hours, also left more than 40 people wounded, in a massive blow to Tunisia's heavily tourism-dependent economy.

Tunisia has seen an upsurge in Islamist extremism since the 2011 revolution that ousted longtime strongman Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and sparked the Arab Spring uprisings around the region.