SLAUGHTER ON SUNBEDS
5 Britons killed by IS gunman posing as Tunisia beach tourist Outrages in France and Kuwait. UK police told: You’re next target
TERROR outrages in three countries left 63 people dead yesterday, five of them British.
Security officials fear the slaughter in Tunisia, Kuwait and France could be followed by further attacks around the globe – including on police and soldiers in the UK.
The atrocities – timed to coincide with the Muslim festival of Ramadan – are believed to have been co-ordinated by Islamic State.
The British victims died in the Tunisian resort of El Kantaoui near Sousse. A gunman disguised as a tourist and hiding a Kalashnikov under an umbrella ran amok among holidaymak- ers relaxing on the beach. A 16-year-old Briton saw his parents and grandmother gunned down in front of him. Another Briton became a human shield to save the life
of his girlfriend. Thirty-seven people were killed and 36 wounded at the Imperial Marhaba and Bellevue hotels.
In Lyon, a businessman was decapitated in an attack on a gas plant and a suicide bomber blew himself up inside a Kuwaiti mosque, killing 5. The triple terror attacks came as: UK police were put on alert and the armed forces told not to wear their uniforms in public;
David Cameron expressed Britain’s ‘solidarity in fighting this evil of terrorism’;
The military is on standby to help evacuate the 0,000 UK tourists in Tunisia if needed;
The Tunisian fanatic selected Western tourists before opening fire;
France said the gas plant suspect was a known extremist.
In Tunisia, terrified British families told how they ran for their lives and cowered in their rooms to escape the horror on the beach. The gunman walked ‘from sun shade to sun shade’ selecting his victims, singling out the British.
Officials said Tunisians, Germans and Belgians were also among the dead.
The killer was identified as Seifeddine Yacoubi, 3, an aviation student from the Tunisian city of Kairouan.
The attacks come just four days after Abu Mohammad al-Adnani, a spokesman for IS, chillingly called on followers to strike against its enemies during Ramadan.
He said: ‘O Allah make this month a month of victories for the Muslims everywhere and make it a month of disasters, defeats, and disgrace for the kuffar (unbelievers) everywhere.’
Intelligence officials in London and Washington have warned of the significance of the unprecedented threat to use Ramadan as a trigger for atrocities.
One senior UK official said of the attacks in France and Tunisia: ‘It could happen here. We have been lucky so far. We have been one step ahead and we have managed to stop them – but we will not stop every one.’
Speaking in Brussels yesterday, David Cameron warned: ‘This is a threat that faces all of us. These events have taken place today in Tunisia and in France but they can happen anywhere.’
Security sources in the UK say Islamist fanatics are determined to carry out an atrocity against a police officer or another member of the Armed Forces, in the wake of the killing of Drummer Lee Rigby in south-east London.
Soldiers have been told not to wear their uniforms outside barracks amid intelligence that fanatics are searching the internet for the locations of military bases and displays.
Sajjan Gohel of the Asia-Pacific Foundation think-tank said: ‘We need to wait to see if the attacks are linked, but Islamic State is going to take credit for all three. Even if they are not directly coordinated attacks, they are very likely to be inspired by IS.’