Tunis massacre, undervalued threat?

30/03/15

The Tunis massacre of 18 March is attributable to ISIS beyond a reasonable doubt. Moreover, yesterday, 9 Islamist terrorists linked to the facts of the Bardo's blood and killed by special Tunisian units in Kafsa, in the southern part of the capital, were intercepted in Tunisia.

Among them Khaled Chaib, alias Lokman Abou Sakher, leader of the Okba Ibn Nafaa cell linked to the attack against the Bardo museum, killed in the Sidi Yaiche region. The same Tunisian Premier Habib Essid gave a communication at a press conference, stating that the success was achieved through a joint army-special forces action, the first major reaction to the terrorist attack of 18 March.

What happened in Tunis confirms the new strategy of terror of ISIS, different from that applied in the past by Al Qaeda with the attack on the Twin Towers. Not a single episode with striking results, but a series of actions implemented simultaneously in the same city or in different geographical areas, with modest effects compared to those of the September 11, but for this reason more difficult to predict and cope with.

What happened in Tunis is an example of this. The Costa Fascinosa and the MSC Splendida, two large cruise ships moored in port, were not hit, but a "targeted" attack was carried out on the tourists who got off those ships, entrusted to a modest group of men used as operational arm "to lose ”, as had already happened in Paris and Holland.

The attack on the Bardo Museum in Tunis cost the lives of 20 Western tourists, of various nationalities, passengers of two Italian cruise ships.

A message to Italy?

It is difficult to say so, but it could be very probable.

It is now certain that the terrorist action was from the outset designed to hit the Museum and not the Parliament as hypothesized "hot". This is demonstrated by the images of the internal cameras where the two terrorists ready to sacrifice cross before the action a third subject they surely know who was falling back from the premises where the slaughter then takes place. Someone who had been entrusted with the task of "scouting" to ascertain that the action could be carried out, bypassing an almost non-existent Tunisian supervision. (http://www.interris.it/2015/03/30/52243/posizione-in-primo-piano/schiaffog/strage-di-tunisi-quel-fonogramma-profetico.html).

Specifically, however, there was an alarm, underestimated by Tunisia and also by those who should have seriously considered an official document that warned of possible terrorist attacks in the area, as announced on March 26 by the newspaper “La Valle of the Temples "(http://www.lavalledeitempli.net/2015/03/26/strage-tunisi-lallarme-era-ignorato/).

A report with which the Port Authority of Salerno in August 2014 warned of a specific threat "... in Tunisian territorial waters there is the possibility of jihadist terrorist acts against Tunisian boats, boats and maritime targets".

The two cruise ships Costa Fascinosa and the MSC Splendida have not, however, been banned from that stretch of sea that the Salerno Captaincy had reported at risk, but are moored at the docks of the port of Tunis and the victims of the attack on the Bardo Museum they were passengers on those ships.

The Tunisian Authorities have immediately removed from their posts the security managers of the Museum and Parliament as well as the Tunisian police summaries responsible for ensuring the safety of visitors.

On the other hand, the Italian document that warned of a possible terrorist danger, seems to have gone unnoticed in Italy, as two of our cruise ships freely sailed the stretch of sea judged to be at risk in those days, as promptly reported by the national Port Authority, that of Salerno.

Evaluation errors, underestimation of risk or economic interests that once again, as in the case of the two Navy Riflemen still held hostage by India, prevailed over everything?

Fernando Termentini