Tunisian police too slow to react, admits country’s Prime Minister

The Tunisian police were too slow to tackle Seifeddine Rezgui, the gunman responsible for killing 38 tourists last week, the country’s Prime Minister has admitted.

Interviewed by the BBC, Habib Essid, said police had been blocked everywhere.

“The problem in Sousse was the time of reaction,” he said.

Asked if the police were too slow, Mr Essid added: “They were.”

Last week reports in the Tunisian press highlighted the performance of the security forces, alleging as many as 17 wounded tourists could have survived if the gunman had been tackled before he returned to the beach at Sousse and started firing again.

^{Pictures emerged of gunman strolling unchallenged on beach at Sousse}

The Tunisian Prime Minister’s interview appeared to confirm these allegations.

However Mr Essid insisted that his security forces had prevented other atrocities, adding that there were 1,000 terrorists already in prison.

The Tunisian Premier laid the blame for the attack on a Libyan based terrorist group, Ansar-al-Sharia, which is believed to have been responsible for the 2012 attack on the US mission in Benghazi, which claimed the life of Christopher Stevens, the country’s ambassador.

The Sousse gunman was trained in Libya, Mr Essid said.

_{Habib Essid, Tunisian Prime Minister}

“He was probably trained with Ansar al-Sharia group, who did everything to form him as a terrorist.

“The investigation are going on and these are the results at this point in the investigation.”

The group are also believed to have been responsible for the attack on the Bardo Museum in Tunis in March, which claimed the lives of 21 tourists and a policeman.

Mr Essid confirmed that eight people had been arrested following the Sousse attack.

All, he said, had links with the gunman.

“Some are friends of his,” the Prime Minister added. “Some are is relatives.”

They are suspected of collaborating with the gunman as he prepared to carry out the massacre.

Security has been stepped up, he added.

“We have started already, more than 1,400 policeman are scattered all over the tourist areas to protect the hotels.

“We do guarantee that in the same way as you in London guarantee the safety of tourists who go to London.”

He added: "We feel really sorry about what happened. They were our guests. They came to spend their vacation with us, but what happened is a horror, unacceptable."

But despite promising to guarantee the lives of tourists, Mr Essid sounded a note of caution.

“The thing with terrorism is that it is never over.”