Tunis: Tunisia's interior minister says multiple arrests have been made in the attack that killed 38 people at a beach resort. Without giving numbers, Interior Minister Mohamed Najem Gharsalli said Monday that everyone arrested is Tunisian and the investigation remained in its early stages.
The 24-year-old attacker, who used a Kalashnikov assault rifle and grenades, was killed by police after Friday's carnage in Sousse. Tunisian authorities say he was the lone attacker, but he had accomplices who provided him with weapons and logistical support. Many of those killed were British tourists.
The top security officials of Britain, France, Germany and Belgium are paying homage to the 38 people killed in Tunisia's deadliest attack, a massacre at a beach resort claimed by Islamic extremists. British Home Secretary Theresa May, French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve, German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere and Belgian Interior Minister Jan Jambon joined their Tunisian counterpart on the beach in front of the Imperial Marhaba hotel in the Mediterranean resort of Sousse for the tribute Monday. Standing on the sand surrounded by security officials, they at one point put their arms on each other's shoulders.
The attack Friday could be a devastating blow for Tunisia's economy, which relies heavily on tourism. The tourist sector had at last started to pick up after shaky years prompted by its Arab Spring uprising in 2011 and then it was hit by a major museum attack in March and the beach attack Friday.
Prime Minister David Cameron says Britain will offer a full-spectrum response to extremism, describing the nation as being "united in shock and in grief," over the beach massacre in Tunisia. Writing Monday in the Daily Telegraph, Cameron insisted the country would not be cowed.' He says that Britain will "stand up for our way of life."
Home Secretary Theresa May is traveling to Tunisia for talks on the extremist threat and to pay condolences. A Royal Air Force transport plane is also being deployed to bring stranded tourists home. Cameron told the BBC that the government is working as fast as possible to give families information. At least 15 Britons were among the 38 killed Friday at Sousse beach, but officials warn that figure is likely to rise.
