Tunisia inquests: Security held back as slaughter of Brits continued

January 16, 2017 WJN Reporter News, UK 0

Tunisian security units ‘deliberately’ delayed their arrival on the scene of the terrorist attack where 30 Brits were killed, a UK coroner has heard.

Isis gunman, Seifeddine Rezgui, opened fire in the resort of Port El Kantaoui, Sousse, killing 38 tourists on June 26, 2015.  The victims, including three generations of one family, were all shot dead on the beach and the adjoining Riu Imperial Marhaba Hotel. Today, an inquest into the British deaths said a Tunisian judge’s report had identified failings by local security units, before police arrived and shot Rezgui dead. The report stated they had ‘deliberately
 slowed down to delay their arrival’.

CCTV footage played at the Royal Courts of Justice showed the killer as he approached the hotel with his gun hidden under a parasol. It showed the moment that he murdered at least one tourist inside the building.  Samantha Leek QC, counsel to the inquest, said an unnamed interior minister had told the judge’s investigation that the local security unit ‘deliberately’ slowed down their arrival, preventing the gunman from being stopped sooner. She told the court: ‘He said the units that should have intervened in the events deliberately and unjustifiably slowed down to delay their arrival at the hotel.  They had the ability to put an end to the attack before the police arrived but wasted a considerable amount of time in getting to the hotel.’

Additional footage showed the shooting of 72-year-old grandfather Bruce Wilkinson, from Goole, East Yorkshire. A woman, believed to be a family member, left the room before it was shown.

Leek said: ‘He systematically took the lives of 38 people who had travelled to Tunisia for enjoyment, luxury and relaxation.’The hearing, scheduled to last for seven weeks, will also examine security in place at the hotel by tour firm TUI and the travel advice issued for Tunisia by the UK Government.

An earlier hearing was told that many families feared the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) may have failed in its responsibilities to thousands of British tourists.

Source metro.co.uk

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