Gunmen armed with Kalashnikov assault rifles attacked the Tunisian capital’s famed Bardo Museum and the parliament compound on Wednesday, killing eight tourists and taking others hostage, the interior ministry said.

“A terrorist attack (has hit) the Bardo Museum,” ministry spokesman Mohamed Ali Aroui told Mosaique FM radio.  “There are eight victims” including “seven foreigners,” Aroui later told reporters.

He said security forces were surrounding at least two militants in the museum in central Tunis, a venue that is often packed with foreigners, the interior ministry spokesman added.

Local media reports said at least 10 tourists were still being held inside the museum.

Exchanges of gunfire first rang out from parliament around midday, TAP state news agency reported.

The gunfire erupted while the parliament was in session, Al Arabiya News Channel said, prompting parliamentary committees to suspend their meetings.

Lawmakers were ordered to assemble in the main chamber, Islamist MP Monia Brahim told AFP.

Witnesses said a large body of police was moving to evacuate the parliament building and anti-terror units were being deployed as well to the scene.

Tunisia, whose 2011 uprising against autocrat Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali inspired “Arab Spring” revolts in Egypt, Syria and Libya, has up to now largely avoided the chaos and violence that has plagued those countries.

But Tunisia's armed forces have been fighting Islamist militants who emerged after the uprising.

Several thousand Tunisians have also left the country to fight for militant groups in Syria, Iraq and Libya, and the government is worried about returning jihadis carrying out attacks at home.
(Al Arabia News)