TUNIS, Tunisia — Tunisian authorities bolstered security across the country Friday amid fears of more attacks after a museum massacre claimed by the Islamic State and carried out by gunmen who apparently trained in Libya.
Security forces were deployed at key sites, including the main Mediterranean port in the capital, Tunis, and the headquarters of state radio after a threat against the broadcaster.
An Interior Ministry spokesman said police were aware of a specific threat against Radio Tunisia but gave no other details. The full-scale security patrols were reminiscent of the dispatch of troops across France after attacks in Paris by Islamist gunmen in January.
As in France, demonstrators in Tunisia were voicing their resolve to stand up to terrorism in the country that sparked the Arab Spring revolts across the region four years ago.
In Tunis, hundreds of people waved Tunisian flags in a show of solidarity against the attacks at the world-renowned Bardo National Museum. Some held aloft signs reading “Je Suis Bardo,” French for “I am Bardo,” echoing the defiant phrase “Je Suis Charlie” after the terrorist attacks in Paris that began at the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo.
On Thursday, the Islamic State terrorist group said two of its fighters had carried out the museum attack, which killed 21 foreign tourists — the latest death reported Friday — in a rampage that raised fears of the jihadist group’s growing international footprint.
Rafik Chelli, the Interior Ministry’s top security official, said Friday the attackers had slipped out of Tunisia in December and received weapons training in neighboring Libya.
Chelli, speaking on the el-Hiwar el-Tounsi TV channel, said authorities did not have further details. A friend of one of the slain gunmen said the training was in the eastern Libyan city of Derna, which is partly controlled by groups loyal to the Islamic State.
The statement marked the first time the Islamic State has claimed an operation in the North African nation, although the group boasts of thousands of Tunisian fighters among its ranks in Iraq and Syria.
In Washington, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Friday there was no clear evidence yet linking the Islamic State to the Tunis attacks.
The two terrorists — who were killed in a shootout at the museum Wednesday — appear to have been radicalized in their hometowns in a province bordering Algeria and apparently traveled to Libya for training, according to local media reports and an interview with a friend of the family of one of the terrorists. Their assault has highlighted the danger that the violent jihadist movement poses to this nation, which gave birth to the Arab Spring and is struggling to maintain its democracy.
Tunisian authorities said nine people were arrested in connection with the attack.
