Dozens killed after terror attacks in Tunisia, Kuwait and France

Witnesses have described the horror and chaos of the gun attack on sunbathing holidaymakers in Tunisia that left at least 39 people dead and 36 injured.

At least five British tourists and an Irishwoman died in the attack. Philip Hammond, the British foreign secretary, said the British death toll was likely to rise.

The assault in Tunisia took place within hours of two other suspected Islamist attacks in France and Kuwait. One man was detained near Lyon, south-eastern France, after the severed head of his former employer was hung from the gates of a gas factory. French officials said the man had been known to intelligence services.

In Kuwait City, a suicide bomber attacked a Shia mosque, killing 27 worshippers. Responsibility for the bombing was later claimed by the Islamic State group. There is no evidence that the three attacks were coordinated or connected.

The shootings in Tunisia took place at about midday in the resort of Sousse, 93 miles (150km) south of Tunis on the country’s east coast. Tourists fled from the beach and barricaded themselves in their hotel rooms after a gunman opened fire on the crowded beach before moving into the pool area of the five-star Imperial Marhaba hotel while firing at tourists, witnesses said.

One suspected gunman was shot dead at the scene, and reports suggested another suspect was apprehended.

Of the attack in Sousse, Mohamed Ali Aroui, a spokesman for the Tunisian interior ministry, said: “The perpetrator of the operation was killed, but … there could have been more of them. Whether there were other elements with him, we can’t confirm or deny.”

 

An official from the country’s health ministry said Britons, Germans, Belgians and Tunisians were among the dead. “There are still some people we have not identified yet, but we are working on it,” the official said. A foreign ministry spokesman said that at least 11 Britons, three Belgians and a German were among the wounded.