hostages run for their lives as gunmen storm a museum in tunisia, killing 24 people according to state television. [ sirens blaring ] >> security forces have now killed two of the gunmen and we understand they are hunting for three other suspects. ♪ >> good to have you along, you are watching al jazeera live from london i'm david foster. a faceoff in frankfurt as the european central bank new headquarters open to the sound

of anti-austerity protests. netenyahu claims victory in israel's general election. his task now to pull a coalition together. ♪ the very latest word from tunisia's state tv is at least 24 people have been killed as gunmen dressed in military uniforms stormed a museum in the capitol tunis. it is the bardo museum a major tourist attraction. once inside we understand the gunmen took several hostages, some foreign tourists. the state tv now putting the number dead at 24, 20 of those foreigners. we'll have the very latest from the ground in tunis in a moment. but kim vinnell has more on how the attack unfolded.

>> reporter: tunisian security forces yell for reinforcement as they surround the capitol's national bardo museum. they are responding to a b in of gunmen who opened fire inside the tourist destinations. a short time later it becomes clear what is at stake. police give cover as host agency run for their lives. a steady stream of people mostly tourists escaping the museum into the parliament grounds. from inside a parliament building one witness describes the scene. >> translator: inside parliament we are surrounded by many security guards. we're on high alert as security sources have revealed that two armed men carrying ak's have fired at tourists inside the

museum. >> reporter: officials say several are dead most of them are foreigners. >> translator: we have six injured. four have been taken to the hospital and two of them you saw rescued. as for the hostages the majority are tourists. there are three to four bus loads of tourists inside of the museum. >> reporter: crowds flock to the hospital as the injured are brought in for treatment. many have their doubts about the stability of this young democracy. >> we had a lot of threat that extremist groups were going to attack civilians, and plans to attack tourist facilities. we all know that since 2011, security was not at his climate in tunisia. it was expected every month, but because it didn't happen people [ inaudible ] to the fact that the situation was more or less under control, and frankly no

one expected something to -- i would say so big, because this is the most important terrorist attack that happened in tunisia modern history. >> reporter: a major setback for a country once hailed as the example of progress in the wake of the arab spring. the tunisia prime minister talked about what he called a war against terrorism. stressing that a united front is needed to combat that threat. >> translator: our country is under threat. it is a very critical moment in our history. it is also a defining moment for our future. we're being envied by many for the outstanding outcomes in our success in our march towards democracy. many are taking opportunities to undermine our homeland. we will act relentlessly without mercy. again, we demand all citizen to cooperate with the police

security and army personnel. it's not the duty of the state institutions alone. it requires the efforts of all tunisians. if we standing united we'll together be able to reign in on terrorism and terrorists. >> joining us on skype the blogger and analyst. good to have you with us. i don't know if you have been able to see what has happened at the museum. but under the circumstances, what do you believe unfolded? >> as -- as i could not go there, of course, it is all sealed by the different security forces that are now besieging the museum and it's the same come pound -- the museum and the parliament are together. these three armored men came dressed in military dress, because it's quite easy to find jon just the casual -- usual military dress.

got in the museum because the museum is less protected than the parliament by the different security forces and they stormed the museum actually and they started firing on -- on the different -- on the tourists who were there. they took some of them hostages but, you know, this was kind of -- this was not expected. i can't say this was expected but we heard that several times before. >> is it your understanding that the majority of those who died did so before the security forces stormed and killed the hostage takers or actually died during the end of the siege? what do you believe happened? >> it's unclear now, because from the beginning we heard that there were a lot of casualties and a lot of gunshots. bardo is a museum composed of big rooms, so you cannot really hide behind -- you can hide but

it's not -- if someone fires in the main lobby of the bardo museum, you cannot hide anywhere. so with three men with machine guns i think it's quite easy to kill 10 to 20 people but it is still unclear now. not a single journalist was able to get in. >> i would imagine given the proximity of the two billings and the fact that they are in the same come pound there, there must be almost a sense of relief that it was the museum rather than the parliament building where they were talking about terrorism. >> this is the most important museum in tunisia. it keeps the natural history of tunisia. so this museum is maybe more important than the parliament for many. and frankly the mp's are not very popular in tunisia.

so the museum itself is more popular. and we are all aware that this is targeting the country's economy. and most tunisians are aware that the economy is going down. and i think there is a big sense of sorrow for most tunisians. people are not yet fully aware of what is happening, and this is the first time it happened in the capitol. >> thank you. we'll be back with you later on. appreciate your time for now. we're going to talk about our correspondent who normally covers tunisia but happens to be in our headquarters in doha. let us talk about the reasons there may have been for these attacks? the prime minister saying it was definitely a terrorist attack. but one that it may have been to

do with the islamic state, and another that it was due to the death in another country. what are you hearing? >> because of the fact it was so unprecedented unprecedented, on tourists foreigners and civilians in tunisia, i think it will be difficult to say. but there are the usual suspects. there are armed groups that had been operating in tunisia since 2011. and in recent years we have seen the phenomenon of tunisians heads over to iraq and syria, around 3,000 at the moment fighting for groups linked to or part of isil. we understand several hundred of

those people have returned to tunisia. but up until now tunisia has been used more as a training ground as a weapons depot for these armed groups. and tunisia itself has been targeted. but civilians have escaped from any kind of targeting or attack or even any suspicion of attack up until now. so for tunisians to try to understand whether it was tunisians who carried this out, i think it will be very difficult for tunisians to stomach that at the moment. >> when you think about the international scale of those people out there who are causing insurgencies, or whatever you want to call it you would think that's a pretty small number and yet the head of the e.u. foreign policy unit says it was

in her words [ inaudible ] in other words isil. >> i think it's way too early to say it was isil or not. but you say it's three gunmen but we just don't know that. we don't know if there are other cells out there. we know in february the tunisian authorities arrested 32 suspects. they found a cashe of weapons. they believed that they were going to attack military and political institutions. but this was at the heart of the economy, and at a museum which has ancient artifacts dating back to roman times. and people are linking that attack on tunisia's cultural heritage with what we have seen in iraq and also in syria, with

attacks carried out by isil on artifacts there. >> yeah i understand that. thank you. thank you very much indeed. it has been a very confusing picture as we try to unravel precisely what we know at the moment. maybe as many as 24 people have actually died. we don't know whether any of the hostage takers have survived. let's talk about how this unfolded with robin. you have been involved in sieges before now, when you look at what you have seen here in tunis, and we don't know the entire picture, but do you think it ended professionally or was i one of those where they felt they had to go in because something even worse was about to happen? >> it would appear that this was two individual gunmen or three

on a killing spree. they killed an awful lot of people, and sprayed an awful lot of bullets around while they were trying to get into the museum. and we can speculate whether that was when people died or afterwards but from historical situations, we can see that it's unlikely that they care about people's lives. they don't want to do any bartering. two individuals in the middle of the capitol in a situation like this. it doesn't look like they had a plan to get out of there. they wanted to cause terror and then essentially their plan was to die. >> and no real alternative to killing them if any did survive it wouldn't be because the authorities were trying to take it easy. >> the most effective way to deal with the situation when there's gunfire is to kill the other gunmen. if you try to take people prisoner chances are you are going to die or people you are

trying to protect will die as well. if you want to eliminate that threat quickly, the most effective way is to kill the person. >> do you know whether in fact there were hundreds of more people in there who were lucky to get out, or whether they were all grouped together with these gunmen. >> well, it is a very popular tourist designation, so likely there were a lot of people on the ground. this is an attack on their tourism industry. it is a threat to something that is incredibly important to their government. so the numbers of people on the ground looks like their casualty figures were awful high. but it could have been higher had there not been members of the security forces on the ground sooner rather than later. >> all right. i'm going to go over some of the

things we do know. according to tunisian state television maybe 24 people have died in an attack in the bardo museum. inside the parliamentary building they were debating terrorism laws. a b in of people managed to escape before finally the security forces stormed the building. we understand in the process perhaps killing two gunmen. a suggestion that there were three. we don't know the fate of the third one if there was one. and the majority of those who died we understand were foreign nationals. this being one of the most popular tourist spots inside tunisia. and the place that brings a great deal of money into the tunisian economy. our expert suggesting that the target may well have been simply the museum rather than the parliamentary building next

door because this is such a symbol of the tunisian character with ancient artifacts in there, many of european origin as well and given isil's propensity for destroying the most valuable artistic objects, as which have seen in the last two weeks in iraq it lead the foreign policy chief to blame this fairly and squarely on members of what she calls daesh, which is an arabic word describing islamic state of iraq and the levant. but no definite proof so far that these were the people behind the attack in tunisia. the israeli prime minister benjamin netenyahu's marked his victory in his country's general elections by going to

jerusalem's western wall. wednesday's poll results show a stunning turn about for the likud party. he now feels he can build a government with ease by joining the ultra orthodox jewish allies. >> reporter: for opposition leader isaac herzog israeli's general election wasn't supposed to end this way. >> translator: a few minutes ago i spoke with prime minister benjamin netenyahu and congratulated him on his achievement and wished him luck but i would like to mic clear to the israeli people the challenges are the same challenges, the problems are the same problems nothing has changed. >> reporter: early results put him in a dead heat with benjamin netenyahu's likud party. but likud won around 30 seats in parliament 12 more than in the

previous election. >> i'm very happy that people decided right. and i hope now we will create a good government and be able to continue what they did in the past years. >> reporter: but not everyone is happy the prime minister looked poised to form a new government. >> translator: i'm disapp pointed with the election results. i was hoping it would be dishth, and at the moment it looks like we're going to continue with years of more racism with a wider gap between the rich and poor. >> reporter: netenyahu's dramatic victory doesn't mean the road ahead will be easy for him. he lead an increasingly bitter campaign in which he rejected outright a palestinian state and a racist warning about a high turn out of israeli palestinian voters. netenyahu will also have to find a way to heel israel's tensions with its closest allies

including the united states. although likud has one the most seats, it's up to the president to decide which leader will form a coalition government. he said he will work towards the building of a government between likud and the zionist union. we're joined now from west jerusalem. given all of the opinion polls this is a surprise i suppose. but i guess the israeli people do care more about issues like security, what that woman called racism, than they do about the economy. >> reporter: indeed you are absolutely correct. in fact we obviously have been covering this election since it

announced last year by mr. netenyahu himself. it seemed like a deliberate attempt to strengthen his coalition. but it really seemed like he was doing quite badly in the weeks leading up to the election. it seemed to favor isaac herzog who was focusing on the economy. and that really did seem to resinate with a lot of israeli voters, but when they went to the polls and were confronted with a choice, they opted on that with mr. netenyahu. and not only mr. netenyahu, of course, we did very well securing roughly around 20 seats, 12 more than the previous election. the far-right parties also did extremely well. so the israeli public embracing, if you will the defense, i suppose issue that has dominated

israeli politics for decades. and that clearly has not changed. >> thank you very much for joining us. one of the other outcomes of this election is the joint list of israeli palestinian parties is now going to be the third largest political force in the israeli parliament. our correspondent is in nazareth with more. >> reporter: the joint list of mainly arab members is now the third largest political party in the israeli parliament. and it has said it will do whatever it can to try to prevent another right-wing government from being formed here in israel following this election. but with netenyahu winning a significantly higher number of seats than his opponents in the centrist zionist union party, it puts him in a strong position to

form a government. but the joint list has received the trust and support of the palestinian people but has lost the battle against the right-wing in israel. the advancement of the likud in this election is not going to be good for palestinians in israel or the occupied west bank. they say they expect a continuation of the right-wing policies that they consider racist. netenyahu has said he would never allow a palestinian state to be established and vows to continue to build illegal settlements in the occupied west bank. that stayed, palestinian israelis, say they are very proud of the progress. and at least it is able to oppose policies it does not agree with in the parliament. to iraq where government forces volunteer fighters and militia are being accused of

serious abusing during their battle of islamic state of iraq and the levant. human rights groups say iraqi forces deliberately destroyed villages and homes last september. the report includes video evidence of iraqi forces looting the property of sunni civilians who had fled the fighting. human rights watch also documented the abduction of 11 men taken in september and october. this report also includes satellite images such as this which it says demonstrate the destruction of towns surrounding amerli. human rights watch says the red and yellow spots show where arson attacks took place and where buildings were demolished. my colleague spoke with a senior research with human rights

watch. >> the militias went out and campaigned to clear the area of isis, but what that has morphed into is a campaign of revenge attacks where they targeted sunni villages in the area. and they have gone through, looted them, burnt them. and these are militias who are essentially working in conjunction with government security forces, but are operating like marauding gangs. >> you are saying they are using the cover, if you would like of fighting isil to go up to -- i guess attack people for their own purposes or their own beliefs. >> absolutely, what we documented is something that appears to be some sort of weird collective punishment where the militias destroyed these villages where isis used some of them as a base to lay siege on

the town of amerli. but the civilians have basically been caught between the horrors of isis and now the brutality of the militias and they have been driven out of their homes in the thousands. what we documented in a 500-square kilometer area is that 30 out of 35 villages have been destroyed. one in particular. our satellite imagery has shown that 75% of the village has been destroyed through arson and purposeful demolition. and that includes us being able to see heavy earth-moving equipment. >> what does the iraqi army say about this? >> we have written to the iraqi authorities, and they said they have carried out an investigation, and the destruction was carried out by

isil. but we know during the time we documented these abuses those villages that have been destroyed were very much under the soul or majority control of the pro-government shia militias, and it was the militias who have been responsible for the damage. >> the question posed there is what did the iraqi authorities say and their response is to say that isil is entirely responsible for what happened and that some of the footage is fabricated. the statement adds that there is quote, zero tolerance of human rights violations on any group in iraq. hundreds of people have been detained in the german city of frankfort. demonstrators were trying to disstrupt the opening of the european central bank's new billion dollars headquarters. dominic kane reports.

>> reporter: violent scenes in the center of frankfort. police step in to prevent protesters from taking over the streets. the block-upy movement, is aiming to make their point of what they see as the negative impact of austerity measures. >> translator: above all, i think it is a big symbol for monetary power in europe. and it's very important that lots of people from lots of different countries come together and fight against these politics. >> reporter: in some areas, clearly that fight has taken on a physical form. police held hundreds of people in different parts of the city to prevent them from committing crimes. it seems like demonstrations like this demonstrate some of the anger that protesters feel

against the authorities and against the european central bank and that is what has brought them here. inside the building the president of the ecb did acknowledge he protesters' point of view. >> it has always been understood that countries have to be able to stand on their own two feet that each is responsible for its own policies. the fact that some had to go through a difficult period of adjustment was first and foremost a consequence of their past decisions. >> reporter: but that sentiment does nothing to calm these protesters in their slogans and chants, they say e.u. austerity is killing jobs and destroying people's livelihoods.

coming up accusations of mismanagement. why the local people say they are not benefiting from kenya's tourist hot spot >> we have fear and intestimony a decision on the streets of myanmar. meeting a journalist who has been attacked for their reporting. stay with us if you can. ♪