British Home Secretary Theresa May described Friday’s attack as “a despicable act of cruelty”.
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The government has sent an RAF plane to help bring back United Kingdom citizens injured in Friday’s terror attack on a Tunisian beach, as authorities announced the first arrests since the killings.
The 24-year-old attacker, who used a Kalashnikov assault rifle and grenades, was killed by police after Friday’s carnage in Sousse.
Tunisia’s Interior Minister Najem Gharsalli said a group of suspects potentially linked with gunman Seifeddine Rezgui have been detained.
Gharsalli made the comment in a meeting with British, French, German and Belgian interior ministers who were in Tunisia to pay tribute to victims of the attack.
Tunisian Prime Minister Habib Essid said Rezgui had been “mainly radicalised online” but added that it was unclear if he had been to neighbouring Libya.
U.S. President Barack Obama expressed condolences in a phone call to Cameron, and said his country “stood firmly by” Britain, a spokeswoman for the prime minister said.
Eighteen Britons are confirmed to have died in the June 26 attack in the Tunisian beach resort of Sousse and this number is likely to rise to around 30, Cameron said.
Cameron said he shared the “frustration” of families waiting for news of loved ones but said the process was hard since many tourists had not been carrying identification or were too disfigured.
May said there was “no evidence” to suggest the British casualties were targeted because of their nationality.
The so-called “Islamic State“, known as Daesh in the Middle East, claimed responsibility for the massacre and has called for more attacks throughout the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which ends on July 17.
Top European security officials paid a somber homage on Tunisian sands Monday to 38 people killed at a beach resort, as Tunisian authorities announced the arrest of seven alleged accomplices of the gunman.
Late Monday, Tourism Minister Selma Elloumi Rekik told reporters she feared Tunisia may lose a billion dinars ($515 million, 460 million euros) in tourism earnings this year.
Tunisia is now to deploy 1,000 troops to protect its resorts.
While thousands of vacationers headed home and cut their holidays short in the attack’s aftermath, Britons Mick Powley and Jannette Kelly said that even after having to run for their lives, leaving was out of the question.
“It didn’t feel like a lone person attack at all”, Mr Inwood said.
Tunisia says four other victims have been identified as tourists from Germany, Portugal, Ireland and Belgium.
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“Until we’ve defeated this threat we must resolve as a country to carry on living our lives alongside it”, he told Parliament in London on Monday, explaining why the government was maintaining its advice on travel to Tunisia.
