2nd ISIS attack Imminent In Tunisia: Britain evacuates British tourists
Saved under Europe, News, World News
Tags: Britain, British, British tourists, Government, Mediterranean, Seifeddine Rezgui, Thomas Cook holiday, Tunisia
Please follow & like us :)
The Foreign Office said it had been working with the Tunisian government since ISIS gunman Seifeddine Rezgui murdered 30 British tourists at the tourist beach resort of Souse last month.
But the Government tonight released a statement claiming the Tunisian government had not done enough to protect British tourists and urged families still in the country to leave.
Already, Thomson and First Choice have said all British staff currently working in the country will be repatriated within the next 24 hours ‘as a precautionary measure’. All 30 Britons killed by Rezgui last month were either Thomson or First Choice customers, and, as a result, the companies have no guests in Tunisia at the moment.
Between 2,500-3,000 British tourists are believed to be in Tunisia and around 300 independent travellers.Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said the Government did not have intelligence about any specific threat but warned that an attack was considered ‘highly likely’.
He told the BBC: ‘While we do not have any information suggesting a specific or imminent threat, since the attack in Sousse the intelligence and threat picture has developed considerably leading us to the view that a further terrorist attack is highly likely.’
The Government said Tour operators were arranging extra flights to ensure holidaymakers can leave.As a result of the change in the Government’s travel advice, tour operators Thomson and First Choice tonight cancelled all their outbound flights to Tunisia for the entire summer season which is up to and including October 31.
Anyone due to travel to Tunisia with the two companies this summer will be given the opportunity to amend their holiday free of charge or receive a full refund.
Thomas Cook tonight also confirmed that it had cancelled all bookings to Tunisia up until October 31. Holidaymakers currently in Tunisia on a Thomas Cook holiday will be flown back to the UK on ‘third party carriers’ as soon as possible and on the company’s 10 scheduled flights over the weekend.
In a statement published on the Foreign Office said: ‘If you’re in Tunisia and you don’t have an essential need to remain you should leave by commercial means.
‘Tour operators are arranging additional flights and will be organising departures for their customers. If you’re travelling with a tour operator, you should contact your tour operator’s representative in the first instance.
‘If you’re travelling independently, you should make your own arrangements to leave’Thirty eight foreign tourists were killed in last month’s terror attack, including 30 Britons.
The Foreign Office warned that further terrorist attacks were likely to target tourist resorts and by ‘individuals unknown to the authorities’ inspired by terrorist groups on the internet.
It comes after the Tunisian government yesterday revealed plans to build a 100-mile wall along its border with Libya to stop ISIS terrorists crossing into the country.
The country’s Prime Minister Habib Essid said the barrier would stretch inland from the Mediterranean coast which has become a new breeding ground for the Islamic State and other terror groups.
The gunman, Seifeddine Rezgui, is believed to have trained with the Ansar al-Sharia group in Libya along with jihadis who shot dead 22 people at a museum in the capital of Tunisia in March.
