Tunisian lone wolf kills four in Synagogue attack

A Tunisian security officer killed two of his colleagues and two visitors of a synagogue, in an attack that bodes ill for Tunisia’s image and its slowly recovering tourism sector.

The attack targeted an old synagogue in Djerba, crowded with visitors and hundreds of Jewish pilgrims from Europe and Israel.

The attacker, a police officer at a naval facility, shot his colleague and seized his ammunition before heading towards the Ghriba synagogue where he fired indiscriminately at other security members killing the two visitors and another colleague.

According to organisers, more than 5,000 Jewish faithful participated in this year’s pilgrimage to Ghriba, which resumed in 2022 after two years of pandemic-related suspension.

The attack revives painful memories of the 2015 attack on Bardo museum and a beach resort, when Islamist militants killed scores of tourists.

The attack also takes place in a context of increasing anti-Jewish and anti-Israeli sentiment stoked by the president, Kais Saied, himself in his public diatribes.