On 26 June 2015, there was an Islamic terror attack at the tourist resort at Port El Kantaoui, about 10 kilometres north of the city of Sousse, Tunisia.
Thirty-eight people, thirty of whom were British, were killed when an armed gunman attacked a hotel. It was the deadliest non-state attack in the history of modern Tunisia, with more fatalities than the twenty-two killed in the Bardo National Museum attack three months before.
Background
In October 2013, a suicide bomber blew himself up in a botched attack on a Sousse beach while security forces foiled another planned attack nearby. The post-Tunisian revolution led to the 2014 parliamentary election in which the principal secularist party gained a plurality but was unable to govern alone, and ultimately formed a national unity government. Secularist Beji Caid Essebsi was elected president in the Tunisian presidential election, 2014. On 18 March 2015 the Bardo National Museum in Tunis was attacked by three terrorists, leading to the deaths of twenty-two people, including twenty foreigners visiting the museum. Two of the gunmen, Tunisian citizens Yassine Labidi and Saber Khachnaoui, were killed by police, while the third attacker is currently at large. Police treated the event as a terrorist attack. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) claimed responsibility for the attack, and threatened to commit further attacks. However, the Tunisian government blamed a local splinter group of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, called the Okba Ibn Nafaa Brigade, for the attack. A police raid killed nine members on 28 March.
Attack
On 26 June 2015 the Spanish-owned five-star Riu Imperial Marhaba Hotel at Port El Kantaoui, a tourist complex situated on the coast about ten kilometres north of Sousse, Tunisia, was hosting 565 guests mainly from Western Europe, 77% of its capacity. Tourists from the hotel as well as from the Soviva Hotel located nearby went to the beach to swim and sunbathe.
At around noon, Seifeddine Rezgui Yacoubi, disguised as a tourist, socialised with others, and then took out a Kalashnikov assault rifle concealed in a beach umbrella and fired at the tourists on the beach. He entered the hotel, shooting at people he came across. He was killed by security forces during an exchange of fire. All bullets were found to have been fired from the one weapon; the attacker had four magazines of ammunition. The attacker had spoken to his father on a mobile telephone which he then threw into the sea just before the attack; it was retrieved.
An Interior Ministry spokesman said that they were sure that others helped, but did not participate directly, providing the Kalashnikov, and helping Rezgui to the scene.
Victims
Thirty-eight people were killed, thirty of whom were British. Among the fatalities was Denis Thwaites, a former professional footballer for Birmingham City, and his wife, Elaine. 39 others were wounded.
Perpetrator
The killer, Seifiddine Rezgui Yacoubi, also known as Abu Yahya al-Qayrawani, (born 1992 in Gaafour) was a 23-year-old electrical engineering student at University of Kairouan from Gaafour, in northwest Tunisia. He did not convey the typical traits of an extremist: he had a girlfriend, drank alcohol and was a local break-dancing star. He was also believed to be high on cocaine during his rampage. He is believed to have been radicalized over such issues as the Libyan Civil War and Western inaction against the Assad government during the Syrian Civil War.
Aftermath
Immediately after the attack, the flight JAF5017 on its way to Enfidha-Hammamet International Airport was redirected to Brussels. German tour operator TUI offered German tourists the opportunity to fly back to Germany and to cancel or adjust their bookings in Tunisia. British tour operator Thomson announced that flights to Tunisia will be cancelled until at least 9 July 2015, with ten flights departing on the evening of the attacks to bring 2,500 customers in the resort back to the United Kingdom. EasyJet and Thomas Cook announced that customers planning to visit Tunisia would be able to change their travel plans free of charge. First Choice also announced the same.
Hotels were to be targeted in future attacks both to undermine tourism and because they were considered "brothels" by ISIS. Both tourism and the related industries accounted for up to 14.9% of the Tunisian economy in 2014.
The United Kingdom's Home Secretary Theresa May and Foreign Office Minister Tobias Ellwood visited the site of the shooting on 29 June 2015. It was also announced that a Royal Air Force aircraft would be sent in order to repatriate bodies and evacuate the injured back to the United Kingdom. On 29 June an RAF Boeing C-17 Globemaster III flew from RAF Brize Norton to Tunisia to recover four British victims, with the C17 returning via Birmingham Airport to unload one patient, and returning to Brize Norton with the other three.
On 29 June, the House of Commons chamber observed a minute of silence shortly before the Prime Minister David Cameron announced that a national minute of silence would be held on 3 July 2015 at 12:00 local time to remember the victims, exactly one week on from the attacks. Cameron later led several COBRA meetings. The Foreign Office sent a team to the hotel to support British survivors and know more about the British victims. The Metropolitan Police Deputy Assistant Commissioner announced an heightened police presence and security for Armed Forces Day and Pride London events taking place in London over the weekend. On 28 June 2015, Her Majesty The Queen said she and the Duke of Edinburgh were shocked by the attack and also offered their deepest sympathy to the injured. Scotland Yard's SO15 Counter Terrorism Command (CTC) launched their largest anti-terrorism investigation since the 7 July 2005 London bombings, involving 600 police officers and support staff. 16 British counter-terrorism police were deployed to Tunisia in the direct aftermath of the attacks, and almost 400 officers were sent to British airports to identify potential witnesses to the attack who had returned home.
On 1 July, the bodies of eight British nationals who were killed in the attacks were flown from Tunisia to RAF Brize Norton.
On 2 July, the bodies of a further nine British nationals who were killed in the attacks were flown to RAF Brize Norton and the Prime Minister David Cameron and Defence Secretary Michael Fallon began making calls for airstrikes in Syria, believing the Sousse attacks to have been coordinated from there. On 3 July, the United Kingdom held a nationwide minute's silence at 12:00 local time to remember the victims of the attacks as government buildings and Buckingham Palace flew the Union Jack at half mast. A further eight bodies of British victims were repatriated back to RAF Brize Norton.
On 4 July, the final five bodies of the British victims were repatriated back to the United Kingdom.
Response
Domestic
- Tunisia - President Beji Caid Essebsi called for a global strategy against terrorism and visited Sousse with Prime Minister Habib Essid, who promised to close 80 mosques within the week. The government also plans to crack down on financing for certain associations as a countermeasure against another attack. Essid announced new anti-terrorism measures, including the deployment of reserve troops to reinforce security at "sensitive sites ... and places that could be targets of terrorist attacks." The "exceptional plan to better secure tourist and archaeological sites" will include "deploying armed tourist security officers all along the coast and inside hotels from 1 July," and "no mosque that does not conform to the law will be tolerated". Beji Caid Essebsi also denounced the "cowardly" attacks, promising "painful but necessary" measures to fight extremism in the country. He called for a firm response: "No country is safe from terrorism, and we need a global strategy of all democratic countries,"
Affected countries
- Belgium - Prime Minister Charles Michel said his "thoughts are with the relatives and victims in Tunisia".
- Germany - Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said that "attempts to knock Tunisia off its courageous path through terrorist attacks such as in Sousse ... will not and must not succeed."
- Ireland - Foreign Minister Charlie Flanagan said "I condemn unreservedly the terrorist attacks in Tunisia, Kuwait and France today" and added that "Attacks like these sow fear and prompt revulsion, but they advance no political cause".
- Russia - President Vladimir Putin offered his condolences and the Kremlin said they have "confirmed readiness to cooperate most closely with the Tunisian leadership in fighting terror threat".
- United Kingdom - Prime Minister David Cameron criticised the perpetrators and supported the Tunisian Government following the attack.
Other countries
- Egypt - President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi condemned the attacks and said: "Egypt affirms that it stands with those countries that suffer from the scourge of terrorism and expresses its full support for their efforts in their war against terrorism and extremism, which knows no boundaries or religions"
- India - Prime Minister Narendra Modi condemned the attacks in France, Tunisia, and Kuwait., saying the progress of humanity lies in peace and brotherhood instead of hatred and mindless violence.
- Iran - Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham condemned the attacks. "This terrorist act has nothing to do with the teachings of Islam," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham said on Saturday about the attack on a gas plant near Lyon in France, where one man was beheaded, after earlier condemning the Tunisia and Kuwait attacks.
- Israel - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: "These cruel acts of murder once again highlight the fact that the enlightened world is in a struggle against the forces of darkness. The struggle against the murderous terrorism of extremist Islam requires us to unite, and this begins with unequivocally denouncing the murderers and their supporters."
- Singapore - The Ministry of Foreign affairs condemned the attacks and reiterated the country's strong opposition to such incidents: "Singapore strongly condemns the acts of violence and the loss of innocent lives in the three terrorist attacks that occurred on 26 June 2015 in Sousse, Tunisia, Kuwait City, Kuwait, and Saint-Quentin-Fallavier, France. We extend our deepest condolences to the families of the victims on their tragic loss. These brutal acts of terror are another reminder that we need to remain vigilant and work closely with our international partners to combat terrorism and counter violent extremism"
- United States - White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said, "The United States condemns in the strongest terms the terrorist attacks in France, Kuwait and Tunisia today. Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims of these heinous attacks, their loved ones, and the people of all three countries. Terrorism has no place in any society, and the United States will continue to work closely with our international partners to combat terrorist actors and counter violent extremism around the globe."
Condemnations and condolences were also given by representatives of the Czech Republic, Malaysia,and the Philippines.
Other Islamist attacks
Four other Islamist attacks took place on the same day in France, Kuwait, Syria and Somalia. The attacks followed an audio message released three days earlier by ISIL senior leader Abu Mohammad al-Adnani encouraging militants everywhere to attack during the month of Ramadan. No definitive link between the attacks has yet been established. One attack, at a French factory, resulted in the beheading of one person; another bombing at a Shia mosque in Kuwait City killed at least 27; and the other attack on an African Union base in Somalia undertaken by Al-Shabaab, killed at least 70. Another attack on the day took place in Hasakeh in Syria. A suicide bomber blew himself up and killed 20 people.
See also
- List of terrorist incidents, 2015
- List of terrorist incidents in Tunisia
References
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