Port el Kantaoui: The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for a massacre in a Tunisian seaside resort that killed nearly 40 people, most of them British tourists, in the worst attack in the country`s recent history. One of three deadly attacks Friday from Europe to North Africa to the Middle East that followed a call to violence by Islamic State extremists.
Dozens more were wounded when a man pulled a gun from inside a beach umbrella and opened fire on crowds of tourists at the five-star Riu Imperial Marhaba Hotel in the popular Mediterranean resort of Port el Kantaoui.
Tunisian Prime Minister Habib Essid said 38 people had been killed, revising down an earlier toll of 39 given by the health ministry. An official there told AFP the original figure had included the dead gunman.
Most of those killed were from Britain — implying this could be the biggest loss of British life in a militant attack since the July 2005 bombings in London when 52 died — while Germans, Belgians, French were also among the dead, the premier said.
IS claimed both the bombing and the attack in Tunisia, which came at the start of the holy Muslim month of Ramadan and just days before the first anniversary of the group declaring its territory in Iraq and Syria a “caliphate”.
Most of those killed were “subjects of states that make up the crusader alliance fighting the state of the caliphate”, the group said in a statement released on Twitter, referring to the group of countries that have been bombarding its positions in the Middle East.
The attack, along with the killings in France and Kuwait, sparked a chorus of international condemnation with the White House vowing to “fight the scourge of terrorism” and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon saying those responsible for the “appalling” attacks “must be swiftly brought to justice”.
Tunisian Secretary of State for Security Rafik Chelly told Mosaique FM the gunman was a Tunisian student previously unknown to the authorities.
The shooting was the worst in modern-day Tunisia and followed a March attack claimed by IS on Tunis`s Bardo National Museum that killed 21 foreign tourists and a policeman. British tourist Gary Pine told Britain`s Sky News television Friday`s attack happened when the beach was packed. He counted 20-30 shots.
By the early hours of Saturday morning, hundreds of tourists were arriving at Enfidha airport in a mad scramble to leave the country, according to an AFP journalist on the scene.Essid on Saturday announced new anti-terrorism measures, including the deployment of reserve troops to reinforce security at “sensitive sites… and places that could be targets of terrorist attacks”.
The “exceptional plan to better secure tourist and archaeological sites” will include “deploying armed tourist security officers all along the coast and inside hotels from 1 July,” he added. Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi told AFP that his country cannot stand up to the jihadist threat alone, and urged a unified global strategy.
In Cairo, leading Sunni Muslim institution Al-Azhar called the “heinous” shooting a “violation of all religious and humanitarian norms”. Tunisia, birthplace of the Arab Spring, has seen a surge in radical Islam since veteran president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was ousted in the 2011 revolution.
In October 2013, a suicide bomber blew himself up in a botched attack on a Sousse beach while security forces foiled another planned attack nearby. Even before the latest attack, Tunisia`s tourism industry had been bracing for a heavy blow from the Bardo shooting, but was determined to attract tourists with new security measures and advertising. Tourism accounts for seven percent of Tunisia`s GDP and almost 400,000 direct and indirect jobs.
Bureau Report
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