Two worshipers who were taking part in a Jewish pilgrimage to the Ghriba synagogue on the eastern Tunisian island of Djerba were killed on Tuesday evening in an attack led by a gendarme who also killed two colleagues before being shot dead, announced the Ministry of the Interior.
This synagogue, the oldest in Africa, had already been targeted in 2002 by a suicide truck bomb attack that killed 21 people.
The attack took place in two stages, the ministry said in a statement. The gendarme who fired first shot and killed one of his colleagues and seized his ammunition. Then he went to the outskirts of the synagogue where he opened fire on the security forces ensuring the security of the place before being shot.
Two “visitors” to the synagogue were killed by gunfire from the assailant before he was shot, and four others were injured and evacuated to a hospital, the ministry added.
The Tunisian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that the two dead were “a 30-year-old Tunisian and a 42-year-old Frenchman”, without providing their identities.
Another gendarme was also killed and five others injured by the assailant’s shots, according to the Interior Ministry.
Following the attack, the French embassy in Tunis announced that it had opened “a crisis unit” and set up an emergency number.
“The United States deplores the attack in Tunisia, which coincides with the annual Jewish pilgrimage that draws worshipers from around the world to the Ghriba Synagogue. We express our condolences to the Tunisian people and salute the rapid action of the Tunisian security forces”, reacted on Twitter Matthew Miller, the spokesperson for the State Department.
The attack came as hundreds of worshipers took part in the annual Jewish Ghriba pilgrimage which was coming to an end Tuesday night at the synagogue.
Security forces “surrounded the synagogue and secured everyone inside and around it,” according to the Interior Ministry.
“Investigations are continuing to elucidate the reasons for this cowardly attack,” added the ministry, refraining at this stage from mentioning a terrorist attack.
Crises
Tunisian media initially reported shooting near the Ghriba synagogue after a police officer was killed in unclear circumstances.
The shots were heard from the synagogue, causing panic among the hundreds of worshipers taking part in the annual Jewish pilgrimage, according to media reports.
According to organizers, more than 5,000 Jewish pilgrims, mostly from abroad, took part in the Ghriba pilgrimage this year, which resumed last year after a two-year hiatus due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Organized on the 33rd day of Passover, the Ghriba pilgrimage is at the heart of the traditions of Tunisians of the Jewish faith, who are only 1,500, mostly settled in Djerba, compared to 100,000 before independence in 1956.
Pilgrims also traditionally come from European countries, the United States or even Israel, but their number decreased considerably after the 2002 attack.
The attack comes as tourism is rebounding strongly in Tunisia after a sharp slowdown during the pandemic.
After several years of deterioration due to the instability that followed the revolution in 2011, this key sector for the Tunisian economy was seriously affected after the 2015 attacks against the Bardo museum in Tunis and a hotel in Sousse, including the death toll had risen to 60, including 59 foreign tourists.
After the 2011 popular uprising that overthrew dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, Tunisia experienced a boom in jihadist groups, but the authorities claim to have made significant progress in the fight against terrorism in recent years.
The attack comes as Tunisia is going through a severe financial crisis that has worsened since President Kais Saied seized full power in July 2021, shaking the democracy born of the first Arab Spring revolt in 2011.
