Bardo Museum attack in Tunisia

Witness History

BBC

History, Personal Journals, Society & Culture

4.4 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 14 March 2025

⏱️ 11 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

On 18 March 2015, 22 people, mostly foreign tourists, were killed at the Bardo National Museum in Tunis, the capital of Tunisia.

Hamadi Ben Abdesslem, a tour guide who led tourists to safety, tells Anouk Millet what it was like that day.

A Whistledown production.

Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more.

Recent episodes explore everything from football in Brazil, the history of the ‘Indian Titanic’ and the invention of air fryers, to Public Enemy’s Fight The Power, subway art and the political crisis in Georgia. We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: visionary architect Antoni Gaudi and the design of the Sagrada Familia; Michael Jordan and his bespoke Nike trainers; Princess Diana at the Taj Mahal; and Görel Hanser, manager of legendary Swedish pop band Abba on the influence they’ve had on the music industry. You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the time an Iraqi journalist hurled his shoes at the President of the United States in protest of America’s occupation of Iraq; the creation of the Hollywood commercial that changed advertising forever; and the ascent of the first Aboriginal MP.

(Photo: Bardo Museum after attack. Credit: Amine Landoulsi/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images).

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, you're about to listen to a BBC podcast, so I'd like to tell you where you'll find more just like it.
0:05.6	I'm Izzy Lee Poulton, an assistant commissioner for BBC Sounds, which means I'm involved in the whole podcast making process.
0:12.2	Whether that's developing fresh formats or facilitating eye-catching artwork, I helped project manage all the details that make our podcast stand out.
0:19.7	At the BBC, we've got access to storytellers and experts across a huge range of subjects.
0:24.4	It could be psychologists, comedians, celebrities or journalists.
0:28.6	No podcasts or day looks the same here.
0:31.6	So no matter what you like, check out BBC Sounds.
0:34.1	There's probably another podcast on there that you're absolutely love.
0:42.8	Music sounds. There's probably another podcast on there that you're absolutely love. Hello, welcome to the Witness History podcast from the BBC World Service with me,
0:48.1	Anukmille. In this edition, I'm taking you back to 2015 when terrorist gunmen stormed
0:53.6	the National Museum of Tunisia,
0:55.4	the Bardot, in an attack that shocked the nation.
0:58.5	Very dramatic pictures emerging on TV as well as on social media of hostages being held,
1:04.0	still being held inside the museum.
1:06.0	It's March 18th, 2015 in Tunis, the capital of Tunisia.
1:11.2	And local tourist guide, Hamadi Ben Ab Abdislim is about to be caught up in a shocking terrorist attack.
1:19.0	I hadn't even finished my sentence when the first burst of gunfire entered the room we were in.
1:25.2	And then there was panic.
1:32.2	Terror in the heart of Tunis. Just meters from Parliament in the middle of the day, people scramble for safety as militants take over the
1:37.9	nearby Bardot Museum. Tunisia was the birthplace of the Arab Spring, a wave of protests in the early 2010s
1:47.0	that led to the toppling of authoritarian leaders in Egypt, Libya, Yemen, and of course, Tunisia.
1:56.1	President Zin al-Abidin Ben Ali is no more.
	...

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