“I have been commanded to fight against people till they testify that there is no god but Allah, that Muhammad is the messenger of Allah, and they establish prayer and pay zakat.” — Muhammad (Sahih Muslim 1.33)
Not that this has anything to do with Islam.
“Suspected Accomplices Arrested in Tunisian Museum Attack,” by David D. Kirkpatrick, New York Times, March 19, 2015:
CAIRO — Tunisian authorities have arrested nine people suspected of helping the two gunmen who mounted a deadly attack on a museum in Tunis and were killed by security forces, the office of the Tunisian president said on Thursday. Officials said that no link had been established between either of the gunmen and any known terrorist group.
The statement said that at least four of the nine suspects had direct connections to the attack at the museum, and the others were associates.
Officials said that because of the threat of terrorism, the Tunisian army was deploying troops to secure the country’s major cities.
The gunmen, who killed at least 20 people in a midday attack on Wednesday at the National Bardo Museum, were identified by officials as Yassine Laabidi and Hatem Khachnaoui….
Tunisia, the lone success of the Arab Spring [Really? — RS], is seeking to consolidate its transition to democracy after the uprising four years ago that removed the longtime strongman Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali….
Supporters of the Islamic State celebrated the attack in Tunis, and circulated a video first posted online in December that warned in general terms of violence to come. In the video, a prominent Tunisian militant, Boubakr Hakim, known as Abu Moqatel, is seen claiming responsibility for the assassination of two left-leaning politicians and urging his countrymen to take up arms for the Islamic State.
“You will not live in safety as long as Tunisia is not ruled by Islam,” he says, taunting other Tunisians for failing to join his fight. “Women are more courageous than you are.”
By Thursday there were multiple attempts by various groups to claim some association with the attack, but none could be immediately confirmed. Supporters of the Islamic State circulated a terse statement asserting that two of the group’s fighters had carried out the attack.
On Wednesday night, a Tunisian militant group calling itself the Uqba ibn Nafi Battalion posted a more detailed message, praising the attack and including details about it that contradicted reports from the Tunisian authorities. The Uqba ibn Nafi group has pledged its loyalty to Al Qaeda’s North African branch, known as Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.
Its message named the attackers, but it rendered their names as Yassin al-Obeidi and Sabr al-Khachnaoui, according to a translation by the SITE Intelligence Group, which tracks extremist groups.
Some observers questioned whether that message had originated from Uqba ibn Nafi, or had merely been circulated by the group.
The message also included photographs that appeared to show the bodies of the attackers — young men with assault rifles, each lying in a pool of blood and wearing running shoes and casual clothes. Tunisian officials had said the attackers wore military uniforms.
The message appeared to stop short of claiming responsibility for the attack or of identifying a group behind it. “We will not answer this now, in order to listen to more of your ridiculous analysis and your weeping and crying on television and radio, and to laugh more at the inefficiency of your apostate masters,” it said.
It also gave a detailed account of the operation; it was unclear whether the account was based on inside knowledge of the attacks or had merely been gleaned from reports in the Tunisian news media. In citing the details, the message mocked the spokesman for the Tunisian Interior Ministry, Mohamed Ali al-Arawi, by name.
“These are details of the operation, O Arawi, O liar, O apostate,” the message said. “Do not search much and lie to the silly ones, your companions, and claim that you are still searching and investigating and want to know what happened.”
The message also mocked Ennahda, a party of moderate Islamists who denounced the attack. It reveled in the decline in the Tunisian stock market after the attack, and suggested that sympathizers who were reluctant to combat security forces should consider attacking unarmed tourists, whose spending is crucial to the Tunisian economy.
Westerners and Israelis, the group suggested, were ideal targets. “You should hunt them everywhere, especially the French, the Americans, the British and the Israelis,” the message said. “Lure them in roads, lodges, dance clubs and bars. Slaughter them on the beaches, drown them in the sea, poison them on the roads by giving them something poisoned to eat, break their skull with a stone, or suffocate them with a pillow in the room.”…