Tunisia to arm tourism police in security boost after attack
Authorities arrest suspects linked to attacker 40 imams deported for ‘preaching hatred’ since 2012
PORT EL KANTAOUI, Tunisia, June 29, (Agencies): Tunisia said it would arm tourism police and deploy hundreds of reinforcements as authorities moved to boost security after a jihadist gunned down 38 people at a seaside resort in an attack claimed by the Islamic State group.
Police on horseback and quad bikes patrolled the beach at Port El Kantaoui north of Sousse, where the worst jihadist attack in Tunisia’s history took place on Friday.
On Monday, interior ministers from Britain — the country hardest hit — France and Germany will visit the seaside Riu Imperial Marhaba Hotel south of Tunis, where the killings took place.
The brutal attack by a lone gunman saw at least 15 Britons and one German among those killed, and dealt a heavy blow to the vital tourism industry.
Tourists gathered around bouquets of flowers laid in the sand, one asking simply: “Why (did) they die?”
UK Prime Minister David Cameron called for a fightback against extremism in response to the mass shooting, as the BBC reported the number of British victims may rise to more than 30.
In Tunis, leaders of the North African country scrambled to find ways to bolster security.
Confirmed
The tourism ministry confirmed plans to deploy 1,000 armed officers from July 1 to reinforce the tourism police, who will now also carry guns for the first time.
Armed officers will be deployed “inside and outside hotels”, on beaches and at tourist and archaeological sites, the ministry said.
Authorities have also announced plans to close 80 mosques accused of inciting extremism.
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.
The shooting wounded 39 people, six who were still in “serious condition” Sunday, the hotel’s Spanish management said.
Witnesses say the attack lasted more than 40 minutes.
Interior ministry spokesman Mohamed Ali Aroui refused to comment on allegations that police were slow to react.
The police arrived “seven to eight minutes” after the shooting began, Aroui told AFP, adding that he is awaiting the results of an inquiry.
“One person alone committed the attack but others helped him for sure,” said Aroui, announcing that the attacker’s mobile phone had been found.
The gunman’s family has been interrogated by police.
Ireland said on Sunday three of its citizens were killed, and the dead also include a Belgian and a Portuguese.
As the painful efforts to identify the dead continued, several British policemen arrived Sunday at the morgue of the Charles Nicolle hospital in Tunis where the bodies of the victims were kept.
The Foreign Office urged its citizens still in Tunisia to be vigilant, saying there was a risk of further incidents, as Britain mourned the worst loss of life in such an attack since the 2005 London bombings.
IS marks on Monday the first anniversary of its self-declared “caliphate” in parts Syria and Iraq.
The extremist group launched attacks around has the
since world,
including one three months ago on the Bardo National Museum in Tunis that killed 21 tourists and a policeman.
Of the 38 killed, Tunisia has identified 20 of the victims’ nationalities so far, including at least 15 Britons.
“We are taking the time we need. There must be zero errors. We have taken the dental and palm prints. Families have arrived from abroad to identify the bodies,” said Naoufel Somrani, head of the health ministry’s emergency services.
Meanwhile, Tunisian authorities have arrested a group of suspects associated with the attacker who carried out a beach hotel attack in which 39 people, mainly British tourists, were killed, the country’s
interior minister said on Monday.
Interior Minister Najem Gharsalli did not give further details, but he said officials also were still verifying whether the attacker had been trained in neighbouring Libya in jihadist camps.
Police were searching nationwide for more suspects after the slaughter of at least 38 people in Sousse on Friday, in Tunisia’s deadliest ever such attack. The attacker’s father and three roommates were detained and being questioned in the capital, Tunis, Interior Ministry spokesman Mohamed Ali Aroui told The Associated Press.
The attacker has been identified as Seifeddine Rezgui, a 24-year-old gradu-
ate of Tunisia’s Kairouan University where he had been living with the other students. The attack was claimed by the radical Islamic State group.
“We are sure that others helped, but did not participate,” Aroui said. “They participated indirectly.”
Investigators believe the suspected accomplices provided the Kalashnikov assault rifle to Rezgui and helped him get to the scene, Aroui said.
Authorities have yet to suggest a motive for the carnage. A security official close to the investigation said the student frequented an “unofficial” mosque in the Tunisian holy city of Kairouan for the past two years.