In March, 22 people were killed – majority foreigners – in a terrorist attack at the National Bardo Museum in Tunisia’s capital Tunis.
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The massacre, claimed by the Islamic State group, was the worst jihadist attack in Tunisia’s history and the deadliest for Britain since the 2005 bombings.
Friday’s attack saw a Tunisian student disguised as a tourist pull out a Kalashnikov assault rifle hidden inside a beach umbrella and open fire on holidaymakers at the seaside hotel.
Home Secretary Theresa May is travelling to the north African nation for talks on the extremist threat and to offer condolences for the slain tourists.
The number of Britons killed in the attack is expected to rise to at least 30, making it the country with the highest death toll. With 21 people from the United Kingdom confirmed dead and several more as yet unidentified, the Cayman government flew Union Jacks at half-mast on public buildings Monday as a show of solidarity in the face of the terrorist attack.
Tunisian police officers guard Imperial Marhaba hotel during visit of top security officials of Britain, France, Germany and Belgium in Sousse, Tunisia, Monday, June 29, 2015. She said she had heard “horror stories” of those caught up in the attack and accounts of “great bravery”, including Mathew James, who was hit in the hip, chest and pelvis as he shielded wife-to-be Saera Wilson from gunfire. “Unshakeable resolve. We will stand up for our way of life”, Cameron wrote in British newspaper the Daily Telegraph calling for “a response at home and abroad”.
A Royal Air Force (RAF) Boeing C17 plane will evacuate four injured Britons on Monday and all 25 of the British wounded – out of a total of 39 hurt – will have been evacuated by Tuesday, officials said. “We are united in wanting to defeat them and defend our values”.
He added that 1,000 extra armed police have been deployed to 692 Tunisian beaches, tourist sites and resorts.
An unspecified number of individuals suspected of having links to last Friday’s Tunisian beach massacre have been arrested by Tunisian authorities, Reuters reports. We didn’t want to leave, we feel pretty safe with the police and the army. “They have declared war on us… whether we like it or not”, he added. “Even if our family calls us every day to tell us to come back”.
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Praised for its new constitution and free elections after the ousting of autocrat Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali, Tunisia has still struggled with the rise of the fundamentalist Islamist movements that flourished in the turmoil immediately following the uprising. The sector makes up seven percent of its gross domestic product.
