A Islamic State-affiliated militant group has vowed to carry out more attacks in Tunisia following a deadly assault on a Tunis museum earlier this month for which it had claimed responsibility.
"The Bardo Museum operation was just a test, which showed how easy it is to penetrate your security system. More painful operations will follow day after day," read a statement issued by the IS-linked Uqba Ibn Nafi Brigades militant group.
The authenticity of the statement could not be independently verified, but it was posted on a website used by the group to issue announcements.
The statement came one day after Tunisia announced that the leader of the group suspected of being behind the museum attack – Khaled al-Shayeb, also known as Luqman Abu Sakhr – had been killed, along with eight other militants, in a security operation in the southwestern Gafsa province.
Interior Minister Najem Gharsalli asserted last week that that al-Shayeb and the Uqba Ibn Nafi group were behind this month's shooting rampage in Tunis' Bardo museum, which left 24 people – mostly foreign tourists – dead.
Days after the attack, Gharsalli sacked several senior security officials.
