Top EU officials said Friday they would visit Tunisia this month to back the fight against a growing terrorist threat from north Africa after this week's deadly Tunis museum attack.
European Council President Donald Tusk and EU diplomatic chief Federica Mogherini will travel to the Tunisian capital on March 31 to show solidarity after the attack in which several European tourists were killed.
Daesh militant group has claimed responsibility for the attack which left 21 people dead and Friday Tunisia said the two gunmen had trained at a militant camp in neighboring Libya.
"Events in the southern Mediterranean are dangerous for Europe," Tusk told a press conference after a two-day European Union leaders summit in Brussels.
"We condemned the appalling terrorist attack in Tunis this week and agreed to intensify cooperation with Tunisia in order to counter the terrorist threat, to strengthen its promising democracy and to assist its economic and social development," Tusk added.
Mogherini, a former Italian foreign minister, said the Tunis killings were "an attack on Europe."
"We know that the risk of instability from terrorism in Libya is also a risk for Tunisia," she said.
Tunisia has seen an upsurge in extremism since the 2011 revolution that ousted longtime strongman Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and sparked the Arab Spring uprisings around the region.