DHAKA: Gunmen disguised as soldiers opened fire at a museum in Tunis, the Tunisian capital, on Wednesday, killing 19 people.

The attack was sparking a hostage drama that ended with security forces storming the building, leaving two assailants and a police officer dead, reports the Al Jazeera.

The victims include 17 tourists from Italy, Germany, Poland and Spain, Prime Minister Habib Essid told reporters after the museum raid concluded, though he said that figure was not final. Another 22 people were injured.

Essid said a separate security operation was underway to track down ‘two or three’ possible accomplices.

The attack began with a burst of gunfire outside the National Bardo Museum, which is next to the capital's parliament compound.

The gunmen then took a number of tourists and museum staffers’ hostage as government forces surrounded the area. Parliament was evacuated.

Television footage showed dozens of people, including elderly foreigners and one man carrying a child, running for shelter in the compound, covered by security forces who began to storm the museum.

Both attackers were killed in the raid, after which Tunisian authorities declared the hostage crisis over.

Yasmine Ryan, an independent journalist who covers North Africa, told Al Jazeera from Tunis that ambulances were going in and out of the area, which was cordoned off by security forces.

The identities of the gunmen remain unknown. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack. However, Essid said the attack was meant to target the Tunisian economy and specifically its tourism sector, which has just begun to rebound after several years of uprising and instability.

BDST: 0829 HRS, MAR 19, 2015