At least four people have been killed in an attack on a synagogue in Tunisia. During the annual pilgrimage to the Tunisian island of Djerba, a security officer at a naval facility first shot a colleague, took his ammunition and then went to the synagogue. This was announced by the North African country’s interior ministry on Tuesday.
The attacker then fired indiscriminately at security forces near the synagogue, shooting dead two believers and another guard. Five other security guards and four visitors to the Jewish house of worship were injured. The attacker was eventually killed by security forces.
According to the Tunisian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the believers killed were a Frenchman and a Tunisian. The authorities initially gave no motive for the crime.
The annual pilgrimage to Africa’s oldest synagogue regularly draws hundreds of Jews from Europe and Israel to Djerba, a holiday resort around 500 kilometers from the capital Tunis. It has been closely monitored since al-Qaeda militants truck-bombed the synagogue in 2002, killing 21 western tourists.