SAND DEVIL
ISIS madman casually strolls beach moments before massacre
HE WAS the terrorist among the tourists, sauntering down a Tunisian beach with an AK-47 at his side.
Small-town engineering student Seifeddine Rezgui, 23, was identified Saturday as the heartless assassin who pulled an assault rifle from his beach umbrella and slaughtered 39 innocent victims.
“We were all shocked when we heard the news and saw his picture, and his mother was devastated,” the man’s uncle, Ali Al-Rezgui, told The Telegraph from the family’s home in Gaafour.
Rezgui, who was fatally shot by Tunisian security forces to end the Friday afternoon murder spree, opened fire at the posh Sousse resort on behalf of ISIS, the terrorist group claimed on social media Saturday.
The Islamic State referred to Rezgui by his jihadi nickname, Abu Yahya al-Qirawani. Authorities confirmed the killer carried grenades along with his assault rifle.
The victims included British blogger Carly Lovett, 24, who was vacationing with her fiancé Liam Moore. The couple, who became engaged six months ago, were separated when the first sounds of gunfire erupted Friday at noon.
Lovett managed to escape the beach unscathed, finding her way back to the Imperial Marahaba Hotel — but she died when the terrorist tossed a grenade into the lobby, a family friend told the Mirror Online.
“Definitely leaving in like three hours and definitely am not finished packing,” Lovett tweeted three days before her death, as the couple were about to leave for vacation. The couple began dating when each was 14.
Authorities said at least 15 of the victims were British, including utility worker Adrian Evans, who was vacationing with his nephew, Joel Richards, a soccer referee.
Hotel worker Imen Belfekih said the gunshots and explosions went on for 20 harrowing minutes as she cowered beneath a desk.
The methodical killer “took time to go to the beach, to the pool, the reception, the administration, climbing the stairs,” she recounted. “We saw only black. It was smoky. Everyone was hiding.”
Other survivors of the sickening beach
attack were shocked by the carnage that unfolded before them.
British tourist Tony Callaghan, a 23-year veteran of the Royal Air Force, immediately recognized the sound of gunfire as he hung out by the pool.
By the time the shooting stopped, the 63-year-old Brit took a bullet to the leg, and his wife suffered a fractured femur. They hunkered down with about three dozen other guests inside the hotel’s offices.
“Help me! Help me!” screamed his wife, Christine, as she stumbled down a hotel hallway. Callaghan said a woman, shot four times, was lying in a pool of blood
“It was, like, incessant,” he said of the killer’s relentless attack.
Rezgui was a good student from a stable family who enjoyed partying and breakdancing, according to officials. He was a Tunisian native who became radicalized without ever leaving his homeland.
Rezgui, who was killed by police after the attack, was from a small village in northwestern Tunisia and had never traveled abroad.
“He was a good student and always attending class,” said Prime Minister Habib Essid at a Saturday news conference. “Our investigations show he didn’t reveal any signs of extremism or ties to terrorists. He wasn’t even on a watch list.”
The terrorist’s normal appearance actually helped him blend in before unleashing the bloodiest attack on Tunisian soil in recent memory.
In addition to the dead, another 36 people were injured. Most of the victims were European tourists.
A lifeguard from a neighboring hotel recounted moving the wounded into ambulances from the blood-spattered scene as the shooting continued.
“You hear the gunfire,” he said before laying a bouquet of flowers on the beach. “You can’t count the number of times.”