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The student who massacred holidaymakers on a Tunisian beach and at a swank resort hotel acted alone during the attack but had accomplices who supported him beforehand, an Interior Ministry official said.
Police were searching nationwide for more suspects after the slaughter of at least 38 people in Sousse on Friday, in Tunisia’s deadliest ever such attack. Media reports said 30 of the victims were British.
The attacker’s father and three roommates were detained and being questioned in the capital, Tunis, Interior Ministry spokesman Mohamed Ali Aroui said Sunday.
WATCH: Tunisia attacker runs down beach with assault rifle 

The attacker has been identified as Seifeddine Rezgui, a 24-year-old graduate of Tunisia’s Kairouan University where he had been living with the other students. The attack was claimed by the radical Islamic State group.
“We are sure that others helped, but did not participate,” Aroui said. “They participated indirectly.”
Investigators believe the suspected accomplices provided the Kalashnikov assault rifle to Rezgui and helped him get to the scene, Aroui said.
Authorities have yet to suggest a motive for the carnage. A security official close to the investigation said the student frequented an “unofficial” mosque in the Tunisian holy city of Kairouan for the past two years.
The official said a swimmer had found the attacker’s cellphone in the Mediterranean. The phone showed the attacker spoke with his father just before his assault, the official said on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorised to speak publicly.
Friday’s attack on the Imperial Marhaba Hotel shook this North African nation that thrives on tourism and has struggled since its 2011 revolution to be the one Arab Spring country that succeeds in transitioning from authoritarianism to democracy.
The bloodshed shocked European nations across the Mediterranean worried for the safety of their citizens who populate Tunisian beaches — and about what it may mean for their own countries in an age of globalized terrorism.
British counterterrorism police official Mark Rowley said Sunday that Britain has mobilized more than 600 officers and staff — one of the force’s largest counterterrorism deployments in recent years — in response to the attack.
At least 15 Britons were among the 38 killed, the most serious attack on the British since 52 people were killed in attacks targeting London’s transport network in July 2005. But the BBC reported the British death toll would rise to “at least 30”, without giving a source for the information.
Britain has deployed senior detectives and forensic teams to Tunisia.
Ballistic tests showed the bullets came from a single Kalashnikov, Aroui said, adding that the attacker was equipped with four ammunition chargers — all found by investigators. Aroui said each might hold 30 rounds.
Shortly after Friday’s shooting spree, Aroui had initially said that two people were involved in the attack before backtracking. To some, the long duration of the assault — reportedly lasting nearly 30 minutes — and the high casualty count might indicate that more than one gunman was involved.
The attacker methodically moved from the beach to the hotel’s swimming pool, reception and other areas. The death toll surpassed the 22 people killed in March at The National Bardo Museum outside Tunis — again mostly tourists, in a country known for its beaches and rich history.
Tunisian authorities moved quickly to bolster security for tourists and other vacationers. Interior Minister Mohamed Najem Gharsalli announced late Saturday the deployment of 1,000 extra police officers at tourist sites and beaches. Tunisia’s tourism sector made up nearly 15 percent of the country’s gross domestic product in 2014.
“We don’t want to make tourist establishments into barracks. That’s not our goal. But we must act to guarantee the security of the tourist sector,” he said.
The owner of the Imperial Marhaba hotel, Zohra Driss, said unarmed beach guards “tried to beat [the attacker] with chairs, with flower vases of flowers, but it was impossible.”
The hotel’s beach security chief Lotfi Torkhani said on Sunday that two armed security officers, one at the main entrance and one at the beach, would be provided by the state on July 1.
“Many of my English friends died. They have been visiting us for 10 years. They even visited me at home and ate Tunisian food,” Torkhani said. He echoed numerous accounts from tourists and hotel employees of the bond between them. “They love me and I love them.”
 
 


Tunisia beach killer had accomplices, official says, with British death toll reported to hit 30

This image taken from a militant website associated with Islamic State extremists purports to show Tunisian gunman Seifeddine Rezgui. Photo: AP

A floral tribute is placed at the site where Britons Sue Davey and Scott Chalkley were shot at the beach near of the Hotel Imperial Marhaba in Sousse, Tunisia. Photo: EPA

Armed Tunisian police swarm streets and beaches of tourist towns after deadly attack

Tourists were targeted by the gunman who opened fire on the beach in Port el Kantaoui on the outskirts of Sousse. Photo: AFP

French terror suspect took selfie with beheaded head and sent it to Canadian phone number

Members of France's Special Forces at Yassin Salhi's apartment building. Photo: AFP

‘He started on the beach and went to the lobby, killing in cold blood’: Tourists recall terror in Tunisia

Tourists at the beach resort embrace to comfort each other after the tragedy. Photo: AFP

Tunisian medics stand next to a covered body after the attack in Sousse. Photo: AFP

Soldiers patrol around the resort, the site of the attack, in Sousse, Tunisia. Photo: Xinhua

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