Tunisia pledges tighter security after beach horror
Print Edition
TUNISIA was considering new security measures yesterday as it scrambled to secure its vital tourism sector following the killing of 38 people at a seaside resort in the worst jihadist attack in its history.
Friday’s attack targeting tourists saw at least 15 Britons among the dead.
After an emergency meeting late on Saturday, Interior Minister Najem Gharsalli promised new steps to ensure the “protection of Tunisia’s tourist sites and beaches by armed police units.”
“We can no longer refrain from taking difficult measures,” Gharsalli said in a statement carried by Mosaique FM radio, adding that at least 1,000 members of the security forces would be involved in securing tourist sites.
Authorities earlier announced plans to deploy armed security officers along the coast and inside hotels from July 1 and to shut down 80 mosques accused of inciting extremism.
The attack saw a Tunisian student disguised as a tourist pull out a Kalashnikov rifle hidden in a parasol and open fire on beachgoers at the Riu Imperial Marhaba Hotel in Port El Kantaoui, near Sousse south of the capital Tunis.
Witnesses described scenes of sheer terror, with the gunman mowing down screaming tourists as many ran for their lives.
One Tunisian witness said the gunman had only targeted tourists, telling locals: “Stay away, I didn’t come for you.”
Tunisian authorities have so far identified 18 of those killed as 14 Britons, a German, a Belgian, a woman from Ireland and another from Portugal.
Health officials have said identification of the bodies is taking time as many of the victims were not carrying ID at the beach.
The attack was Britain’s worst loss of life in a jihadist attack since the 2005 London bombings. Britain has said at least 15 of its citizens were confirmed dead and warned that the toll is likely to rise.
The British government cautioned yesterday that other attacks “are possible” in Tunisia, urging visitors to remain vigilant.
The attack was swiftly claimed by the Islamic State group, the extremist organization that has seized control of large parts of Syria and Iraq and carried out attacks around the world.
It came just three months after another IS-claimed attack on the Bardo National Museum in Tunis killed 21 tourists.
It was carried out on the same day as a suicide bombing that killed 26 people at a Shiite mosque in Kuwait, which was also claimed by IS, and a suspected Islamist murder at a factory in France.
With its hundreds of kilometers of coastline, turquoise waters, archaeological sites and low prices, Tunisia has long attracted European tourists.
But the tourism industry — which accounts for 7 percent of Tunisia’s GDP and almost 400,000 jobs — has been reeling since the 2011 revolution that ousted dictator Zine El Abidine ben Ali was followed by a rise in jihadist attacks.
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