TUNIS, Tunisia -- The latest news from an attack on a beach resort in Tunisia (all times local):
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7.20 p.m
British
Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond says at least five Britons have been
killed in the attack on the Tunisian resort of Sousse.
Hammond
said the British death toll could rise and a high proportion of the 37
people who were killed by a lone gunman is likely to be British.
Hammond spoke after chairing a meeting of the government's crisis committee, COBRA, on Friday.
The
Foreign Office is advising Britons in hotels near the attack to remain
in their hotels in case more attackers are on the loose, and to contact
tour companies and British officials.
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7.15 p.m
Homeland
Security Secretary Jeh Johnson says his department is encouraging law
enforcement "to be vigilant and prepared" ahead of the July 4th holiday
in the U.S. following attacks in France, Tunisia and Kuwait.
Johnson says people should attend Independence Day events as planned but "remain vigilant" and report any suspicious activity.
He says U.S. authorities will adjust security measures, including those unseen by the public, as necessary.
A
gunman killed at least 37 people and wounded 36 in an attack on a beach
resort in Tunisia Friday. In Kuwait, a suicide bomber killed at least
25 people, while a man with suspected ties to French Islamic radicals
rammed a car into a gas factory in southeastern France, triggering an
explosion that injured two people. The severed head of a local
businessman was left hanging at the factory's entrance.
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6.50 p.m
President
Vladimir Putin has offered condolences to his Tunisian counterpart in
connection with the attack at a beach resort that killed at least 37.
The
Kremlin said Friday that Putin condemned the attack and "confirmed
readiness to cooperate most closely with the Tunisian leadership in
fighting terror threat."
A gunman killed at least 37 people and wounded 36 in an attack on the beach resort town Sousse in Tunisia on Friday.
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6.40 p.m
British
tourists have described the horror they experienced at the beach resort
in Tunisia where a gunman killed 37 people and wounded 36.
Olivia
Leathley, 24, from Manchester in northwest England, told Britain's
Press Association she saw one woman whose husband had been shot in the
stomach in front of her.
She said the woman
was "dragged away by hotel reps trying to get her to safety but she was a
complete mess. She was in hysterics."
Leathley
said: "All she said was that he'd been shot and that he was there
bleeding on the beach and he was just saying, `I love you I love you,'
and then his eyes rolled back into his head."
Debbie
Horsfall from Huddersfield in northern England told the BBC the gunman
had started firing on people at the sandbanks right next to her.
"As he began to fire we just got up and ran straight to our hotel," she said.
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6.15 p.m
White
House spokesman Eric Shultz says President Barack Obama has been
briefed about the three attacks in Tunisia, Kuwait and France and
continues to receive updates.
He said U.S.
national security staff and intelligence professionals "are in touch
with their counterparts in their respective countries and continue to
offer help and assistance in those countries."
He said there was no immediate intelligence assessment available on the unfolding situation.
"Our law enforcement officials continue to be in touch with our counterparts in France," he said.
A
gunman killed at least 37 people and wounded 36 in an attack on a beach
resort in Tunisia Friday. In Kuwait, a suicide bomber killed at least
25 people, while a man with suspected ties to French Islamic radicals
rammed a car into a gas factory in southeastern France, triggering an
explosion that injured two people. The severed head of a local
businessman was left hanging at the factory's entrance.
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5.45 p.m
A
Health Ministry spokesman says the death toll following the attack
against sunbathers at a Tunisian beach resort has increased to 37.
Choukri Nafti said another 36 people were wounded in Friday's attack and two or three of them are in critical condition.
Nafti
said there was a shortage of psychological help for survivors of the
attack at a hotel in the Mediterranean resort of Sousse.
It was Tunisia's deadliest such attack.
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5.45 p.m
The secretary-general of the United Nations has condemned the suspected terrorist attacks in Tunisia, Kuwait and France.
A
spokesman for Ban Ki-moon said Friday that "those responsible for these
appalling acts of violence must be swiftly brought to justice."
He
said the secretary-general affirms that "these heinous attacks will
only strengthen the commitment of the United Nations to help defeat
those bent on murder, destruction and the annihilation of human
development and culture."
A gunman killed at
least 28 people and wounded 36 in an attack on a beach resort in Tunisia
Friday. In Kuwait, a suicide bomber killed at least 25 people, while a
man with suspected ties to French Islamic radicals rammed a car into a
gas factory in southeastern France, triggering an explosion that injured
two people. The severed head of a local businessman was left hanging at
the factory's entrance.
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5.35 p.m
A Pentagon spokesman says it is too early to say if the three attacks in Tunisia, Kuwait and France were coordinated.
Col.
Steve Warren says Pentagon condemns "these terrorist attacks" and will
continue to work with international partners to fight the Islamic State
group and other violent extremist groups.
He
noted IS has claimed responsibility for one attack, but said Pentagon
continues to look into "whether or not these various and far flung
attacks were coordinated centrally or whether they were coincidental."
A
gunman killed at least 28 people and wounded 36 in an attack on a beach
resort in Tunisia Friday. In Kuwait, a suicide bomber killed at least
25 people, while a man with suspected ties to French Islamic radicals
rammed a car into a gas factory in southeastern France, triggering an
explosion that injured two people. The severed head of a local
businessman was left hanging at the factory's entrance.
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5.15 p.m
A
lawmaker says a woman from Ireland has died from gunshot wounds
following the terror attack in a beach resort in Tunisia that has
claimed at least 28 lives.
The politician, Ray
Butler, says he has spoken by telephone to the husband of the dead
woman. He says the two were vacationing in Tunisia together when she was
shot on the beach outside their hotel, and the husband was still
inside.
"He is absolutely distraught," Butler says.
Butler says the woman was in her 50s and from the village of Robinstown, County Meath, northwest of Dublin.
The
Irish Department of Foreign Affairs says it cannot confirm whether an
Irish citizen is among those killed in Friday's attack. It says more
than 60 Irish holidaymakers are in the country.
Another group of Irish holidaymakers due to depart Friday night to Tunisia have had their bookings refunded.
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5.10 p.m
Spain
has raised its terror threat level to the second highest level on its
scale as a precautionary measure following the suspected terror attacks
in Tunisia, France and Kuwait.
Interior
Minister Jorge Fernandez Diaz told reporters the level was raised from 3
to 4, meaning the country faces a high risk of a possible attack.
Spain's highest terror threat level is 5.
Spanish officials have no information suggesting that the country faces an imminent attack, Fernandez Diaz said.
A
gunman killed at least 28 people and wounded 36 in an attack on a beach
resort in Tunisia Friday. In Kuwait, a suicide bomber killed at least
25 people, while a man with suspected ties to French Islamic radicals
rammed a car into a gas factory in southeastern France, triggering an
explosion that injured two people. The severed head of a local
businessman was left hanging at the factory's entrance.
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4.50 p.m
The
head of the European Commission, Donald Tusk says that political
stability in Tunisia is also vital for Europe and that the attack there
was not accidental.
"I believe that it is not
accidental that Tunisia is among the countries attacked by terrorists,"
Tusk told reporters in Brussels Friday.
He said Tunisia is one of the few countries in the region that give hope for stability, albeit "very sensitive" stability.
For
European and regional security "it is important to maintain political
stability in the country, also because of the hot issue of migrants," he
said.
A gunman killed at least 28 people and wounded 36 in an attack on the beach resort town Sousse on Friday.
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4.40 p.m
German
tour operators are offering people booked to Tunisia in the coming
weeks the chance to cancel their vacations or change their destination
for free, and say they'll work to bring home people who want to leave
the country early.
Major tour operator TUI
said Friday that people booked to Tunisia this summer can cancel or
rebook for free through Sept. 15. The company says it will organize
early departures for those who want to leave Tunisia.
DER
Touristik, the parent company for several other tour operators, says
it's offering customers booked to leave for Tunisia through July 10 free
cancelations or rebookings.
It says it's
organizing places on planes for people who want to leave Tunisia.
Neither company had details on whether cancelations already have been
received.
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4.35 p.m
Tunisia's
Interior Ministry says the gunman killed by police was acting alone
when he attacked a beach resort, killing at least 28 people and wounding
36.
The Interior Ministry had previously said
two attackers were involved in the attack at a hotel and beach in the
resort town Sousse, including one who had fled the scene.
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4.15 p.m
A
terror expert says the attack at a Tunisian beach resort should
"probably be seen as an attempt to destabilize the economy as well as
the wider political situation in Tunisia."
Alexander
Meleagrou-Hitchins from the International Centre for the Study of
Radicalization at King's College London said similar attacks had earlier
damaged tourism in Egypt and Kenya.
He said
Friday's attack, which left at least 28 dead and 36 wounded, is "really
is going to lead to a massive reduction in tourism."
"We
have people relaxing on the beach on their holidays being murdered -
that is not going to help the attempts by the Tunisian tourist industry
to get people to come to the country," he said.
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4.05 p.m
Tunisian
state television quotes the Interior Ministry as saying the toll for
the beach attack in Sousse has risen to 28 dead and 36 wounded.
The Interior Ministry had previously said 27 people died and six were wounded after gunmen attacked the resort town Friday.
The Health Ministry said the dead include Tunisians, Britons, Germans and Belgians.
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4.00 p.m.
Germany's
foreign minister says his government doesn't yet know whether Germans
were among the victims of the attack on a beach resort in Tunisia.
Frank-Walter
Steinmeier noted in a statement that the Group of Seven nations assured
Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi of their support in fighting
terrorism when he was a guest at the G-7 summit in Germany earlier this
month. He said that "today's attack can only strengthen us in that."
Steinmeier's
ministry said it was working to clear up whether Germans were affected
and a consular team from the German Embassy in Tunis was heading to the
scene.
At least 27 people died and six were wounded in the attack Friday.
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3.30 p.m.
The
Spanish company that owns the hotel at a Tunisia beach resort which was
attacked by gunmen has offered its condolences to the victims and their
families.
At least 27 people died and six were wounded in the attack Friday.
RIU
Hotels & Resorts said in a statement that it is collecting
information about what happened on the beach in front of the Hotel Riu
Imperial Marhaba in the Port El Kantaoui neighborhood of Sousse.
It said it is in "permanent contact with authorities."
RIU promised to report its findings to the public on its Website and through social media.
The company's statement made no mention of the nationalities of guests killed.
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3.20 p.m.
Rafik
Chelli, one of Tunisia's top security officials, told Mosaique FM that
the gunman shot by security forces after attacking a Tunisian beach
resort was unknown to authorities.
He said the
man, from the city of Kairouan, came from the beach hiding his
Kalashnikov under an umbrella before opening fire on the tourists. From
there he entered the Hotel Imperial through the pool, shooting people as
he went.
Chelli said there were many foreigners among the victims but he did not have an exact count of the nationalities.
He
said authorities had a plan to protect the hotels during the month of
Ramadan but this was an isolated operation that is difficult to counter
against and there is never zero risk.
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2.35 p.m.
A
tourist from Ireland says she was on the beach in Tunisia with her two
sons when she heard what she first thought were fireworks.
Elizabeth
O'Brien tells Ireland's RTE radio she looked about 500 meters away and
saw a hot air balloon collapse, then heard rapid firing and saw two
people who were going to go up in the balloon running toward her.
Authorities say at least 27 people have been killed in the attack on the beach there.
O'Brien
says she rushed to the sea to get her children and that waiters and
security on the beach urged them to run as they raced toward the hotel.
They ran to their room and holed up there.
She says her travel agent told her to go talk to someone at the reception desk but she's too afraid to leave the room.
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2.20 p.m.
Interior
Ministry spokesman Mohammed Ali Aroui says the police operation to
catch the second gunman behind the attack on the beach resort is ongoing
and the exchange of fire is continuing.
He says one gunman behind "the terrorist attack was killed during an exchange of fire with security forces."
"A
terrorist infiltrated the buildings from the back before opening fire
on the residents of the hotel, including foreigners and Tunisians," he
said.
At least 27 people have been killed in the attack near two hotels in the coastal resort city of Sousse.
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2 p.m.
Spanish
Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has confirmed that one of the two
beachside hotels where tourists were shot in Tunisia, killing at least
27 people, is owned by a Spanish company.
Rajoy
said from Brussels that the attacks Friday in Tunisia and in France
were both acts of terror but did not provide more details.
Tunisian
officials identified the hotel Rajoy referred to as the Hotel Riu
Imperial Marhaba in the Port El Kantaoui neighborhood of Sousse. It is
owned by Spain's RIU Hotels & Resorts, which has more than 100
hotels in 19 countries.
The company's media office said RIU's board of directors was holding an emergency meeting following the attack.
The
media office had no immediate comment on what happened or the
nationalities of victims but said the company planned to issue a
statement.
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1:45 p.m.
Tunisia's
Interior Ministry spokesman has told the state news agency that the
toll in an attack on a beach resort has risen to 27.
Mohammed
Ali Aroui described the victims as mostly tourists but did not give any
nationalities. Local radio has said those killed Friday in the resort
of Sousse were mostly German and British.
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1:25 p.m.
Tunisian
state television says the number of people killed in an attack on a
tourist resort is now 19 after two gunmen opened fire on beachgoers.
There
have been no details on the nationalities of those killed in the resort
of Sousse on Friday, but during the holy month of Ramadan, those on the
beach tend to be tourists.
Interior Ministry
spokesman Mohammed Ali Aroui said security forces intervened immediately
and killed one of the attackers, the other fled the scene.
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1:20 p.m.
A British tourist close to the scene of a deadly attack on a Tunisian beach resort has described his experiences.
Gary
Pine said he was on the beach and heard what "we thought was
firecrackers going off" 100 yards away, followed by an explosion from
the next hotel complex along.
"There was a mass exodus off the beach," he told Sky News. He said his son said he had seen someone get shot on the beach.
He said guests at his hotel were first told to lock themselves in their rooms, and later to gather in the lobby.
Tunisia's
Interior Ministry says two gunmen opened fire on a beach in the coastal
resort of Sousse Friday, killing at least seven people.
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1 p.m.
Tunisia's
Interior Ministry says two gunmen opened fire on a beach near two
hotels in the coastal resort city of Sousse, killing at least seven
people.
Interior Ministry Spokesman Mohammed Ali Aroui said that one of the gunmen was killed and police are pursuing the other.
Sousse, some 150 kilometers from Tunis, is a popular resort for both Tunisians and Europeans.
Aroui said the death toll could rise.
Tunisia
has been battered by attacks by militants, most recently in March when
two Tunisians returning from Libya killed 22 people at the national
museum.
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This story has been corrected to say there was only one gunman, not two.
