Last week terrorists attacked a chemical plant near Lyon in France, a Shia mosque in Kuwait and tourist beach hotel in Tunisia, leaving a bloody toll on three continents and prompting new concerns about the spreading influence of jihadists. The three separate attacks have collectively claimed 66 lives, at the least.
A van driver with alleged links to Islamist radicals, rammed his car containing flammable liquids, into an area of the Air Products factory, in France. A decapitated body of a 54 year old was found in the area and two others were killed in the act. The suspect, Yassine Salhi, was seized by an alert firefighter, authorities said, and French President Francois Hollande said the attacker's intention had been to cause an explosion. A security alert for the southeast region was raised to its highest level and the US Embassy in Paris warned American citizens to be vigilant. In an audio recording released on Tuesday, the Islamic State called on its supporters to increase attacks during Ramadan and "be keen on waging invasion in this eminent month and commit martyrdom."
A relatively secure Arab country, Kuwait, braved a brutal suicide bombing, the same day, at a Shiite mosque that took 27 lives, including 2 Indians and wounded many others. The Islamic State has released what is a posthumous statement by the militant accounting for the onslaught.
Tunisia is no stranger to Islamic attacks. It witnessed the most devastating attack when a 23 year old opened fire at tourists on the beach at the Imperial Marhaba hotel, killing 38 people, all western tourists, mostly Britons. The beach rampage by the gunman Seifeddine Rezgui seems to have specifically targeted at Britons, with the known numbers of the deceased likely to increase after the government confirmed 25 of the 38 victims. The attack in Tunisia comes just months after the March 18 massacre at the national Bardo museum in Tunis that killed 22 people, again mostly tourists, and has called into question the newly elected government's ability to protect the country.
"Once again, cowardly and traitorous hands have struck Tunisia, targeting its security and that of its children and visitors," President Beji Caid Essebsi told reporters at the RIU Imperial Marhaba hotel, near the beach rampage site. Essebsi promised "painful but necessary" measures, adding: "No country is safe from terrorism, and we need a global strategy of all democratic countries."
Britons toll likely to be 30
The number of British people killed in the Tunisia terror attack is expected to rise to at least 30.
The Government has already confirmed 25of the 38 victims who died in the deadly rampage. Another three were from Ireland.
But with Britons apparently paying the heaviest price in Friday's atrocity, Home Secretary Theresa May has been visiting the country. She joined others to pay her respect to the victims on the beach in Sousse, before a meeting with Tunisian government officials.
Speaking after the talks with the country's interior ministry, she said: "What happened was a despicable act of cruelty. How could a place of such beauty, of such relaxation and happiness be turned into such a scene of brutality and destruction? Sadly, we know at least 25 British tourists died in this terrorist attack. But we know also that that number will rise. I have heard of the stories, the horror stories, of people who went through this, and our thoughts are with the victims and their families. We are very clear that the terrorists will not win. We will be united in working together to defeat them. But united also in working to defend our values."
Prime Minister David Cameron said the threat posed by the Islamist extremists needs to be countered with a “full spectrum response” and that it was important to show “unshakeable resolve” in the face of terror. He further said the organisation has “declared war on Britain and they are attacking our people at home and overseas.”
“We are a target. Frankly, we cannot hide from this thinking if you step back you become less of a target. They are attacking our way of life and what we stand for, and so we have to stand united with those that share our values,” he said.
Cameron signalled less official tolerance in Britain of those who supported the aims of the so-called Islamic State, also known as Isis. Cameron named Hizb’ut Tahrir – a group that is banned in many countries, including Germany, but operates freely in the UK - as an example of an organisation that pretended to speak for the entire Muslim community but shared many of the assumptions of the extremists.
“Isis is a poisonous death cult that is seducing too many young minds in Europe, in America, in the Middle East and elsewhere, and this is going to be the struggle of our generation and we have to fight it with everything we can,” he said.
Asked if British Muslims had not been tough enough in condemning terrorism, Cameron said: “No, I don’t believe that is the case... the point I am making is there are some organisations and some people who buy not the terrorism, but they buy a lot of the extremist narrative. To those people we have got to say that is not an acceptable view.
“We are not going to engage with people who believe there ought to be a caliphate and women should be subjugated. My point is some organisations set themselves up as representative of Muslim communities when actually they are not. Do not treat them as spokespeople for all of the community.”
Security has been stepped up across Britain in the wake of the Tunisian attack, with visible and covert counter-terrorist policing at major public events, such as the Wimbledon Championships.
As many as 600 officers and support staff are involved, making it the largest anti-terror operation since the London attacks of July 2005.
Names of some of the victims
The family of Janet and John Stocker have released a statement, confirming that the couple from Crawley were killed in the attack. It is with regret and great sadness that we can now confirm that our parents Janet and John Stocker have tragically lost their lives as a result of Friday’s atrocities. Our father, 74, was retired printer, born and bred in Peckham and was a proud father of us 5 children and 10 grandchildren.
Our mother, 63, was born and raised with her two brothers in Fulham and was a fun-loving and devoted mother to us children, and loved nothing more than being than being around all of the grandchildren, as well as a best friend to anyone who knew and appreciated her kind, understanding and loving character.
John Welch, 74, and Eileen Swannack, 70, have now been confirmed dead, according to the Bath Chronice. They were previously considered missing. The couple from Wiltshere had visited the resort in Sousse on multiple occasions. Welch was a retired plumber.
Chris Dyer, an 32-year-old engineer from Watford, is the latest victim identified in the attack. His wife Gina Van Dort was severely wounded, but survived. She was reportedly found clutching her husband's lifeless body.
John Stollery, a 58-year-old social worker from Nottinghamshire, has been named by Nottinghamshire Council Council as a further victim of the Tunisia beach massacre.
In a statement his wife Cheryl said: "We, his family, are proud of him and deeply saddened that he was taken from us in such a horrific and tragic way."
Repatriations of Britons killed are expected to begin on Wednesday, Downing Street has said. The Government is "working closely" with the families of those killed in Sousse, and has offered to arrange for the bodies of their loved ones to be flown by RAF plane to Brize Norton in Oxfordshire before being transported on to their home areas. The repatriation process is expected to take a number of days.
All wounded Britons have now been brought back to the UK, with four severely injured holidaymakers flown home in an RAF C17 transport plane accompanied by "medevac" teams.
Hotel staff forms human shield
A survivor of the massacre in Tunisia has revealed local hotel staff members formed a human shield on the beach in a heroic bid to protect tourists from the rampaging gunman. John Yeoman, 46, said Muslim staff members from the Bellevue Hotel told the gunman he would have to kill them first as they formed a human barricade between the shooter and Western tourists. It is just one of many incredible tales of survival to emerge in the aftermath of the deadly attack in which British survivors have described playing dead as Rezgui 'executed' wounded tourists.
