Parents of Tunisia Museum Attack Suspect Admit Doubts About Son's Behavior

Parents of a terrorist who killed foreign tourists in an attack on the Bardo museum in the center of Tunisia's capital told Sputnik they had doubts about their son behavior since last December and were considering reporting his absence that month to the authorities.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — On March 18, a group of gunmen, dressed in military uniform, opened fire at visitors to the National Bardo Museum. The country's security forces killed two terrorists after a two-hour standoff, one of them identified as Yassine Labidi.

Labidi's father said Monday his son made suspicious phone calls over a 27-day period in December 2014 from unknown numbers on the island of Djerba, off the southeast coast of Tunisia.

"Yassine told the family he was with his girlfriend — an American of Iraqi origin and her family, and that he was calling from their foreign phones," he said.

According to Labidi's mother, she began worrying after his absence in December, even considering turning to law enforcement officials. But after his return her doubts disappeared and she “would have never thought he was connected with a suspicious party or a terrorist group”.

Terrorist’s father stressed that there were no signs pointing to his son’s extremism.

“For example, he did not force his sister to wear a hijab, she does not wear one," he added.

On Friday, Tunisian Security Minister said that suspects behind Wednesday's deadly attack could have got their weapon training in Libya in December 2014.

More than 20 people were killed and over 40 persons were wounded during the attack. Most of the victims were foreign tourists visiting the museum.

The Islamic State militant group claimed responsibility for the attack on the museum.