SUSAH, Tunisia — Gunmen killed at least 37 people at a beachfront Tunisian hotel on Friday, the same day terrorists lashed out brutally in France and bombed a mosque in Kuwait.
Tunisia’s health ministry reported those deaths as well as 36 injuries in and around the Hotel Riu Imperial Marhaba in the coastal Tunisian city of Sousse, according to the state-run TAP news agency. There were three attackers — one of whom was killed, one arrested and one escaped — Interior Ministry spokesman Mohammed Ali Aroui told reporters.
A woman from Wales told CNN’s Robyn Kriel that she saw bloodied bodies lying in the sand and people from neighboring hotels jumping over to fences to get to her hotel. She said she is staying about a mile from the main attack scene, but visitors there still took precautions by putting mattresses up against the door to slow any gunmen who might try to barge in.
The hotel guest said she heard at least 30 seconds of sustained gunfire, though things have become relatively quiet by early afternoon.
On its website, Hotel Riu Imperial Marhaba is described as an all-inclusive hotel with views of Port El Kantaoui. It contains indoor and outdoor pools, including one for children, as well as buffet-style and theme restaurants.
By late Friday afternoon, while blood pooled on pavement outside the hotel, the building itself appeared relatively calm. Most tourists had evacuated by then, with locals and security forces inside.
While the horror appeared to be over, its full extent — including who died and how — remained largely unknown.
But what was clear, even then, is that this was another dark day for Tunisia, and further proof of terrorists’ savagery — not just in war-torn regions like Iraq and Syria, but also in far different places where people expect to relax, not fear for their lives.
“I cry for Tunisia, I cry for Kuwait, I cry for our countries that have become accustomed to blood gun powder and became foul,” tweeted one woman.
Attacks also in France, Kuwait
Tunisia’s nightmare came on the same day as at least two deadly terrorist attack in other countries.
One person was beheaded and two injured at a gas factory near Lyon in southeastern France, according to French President Francois Hollande. And ISIS has claimed responsibility for an apparent bomb blast at the Shiite-affiliated Al-Sadiq mosque in Kuwait’s capital during Friday prayers, leaving at least 25 dead and more than 200 injured.
Spain raised its terror alert — to 4 on a 1-to-5 scale, with the higher numbers indicating a bigger threat — in light of the three attacks, Spanish Interior Minister Jorge Ferandez said. Other leaders, like British Prime Minister David Cameron, reacted as well.
“I am sickened by the attacks in Tunisia, France and Kuwait,” Cameron tweeted. “Our countries stand together in combating the horrors of terrorism.”
Sajjan Gohel, the international security director for the Asia-Pacific Foundation think tank, said the confluence of events add up to “an unprecedented day for terrorism.” He noted that, while questions remain about who was responsible and the extent to which the attacks were coordinated, in each case you have individuals “buying into the … doctrine that groups like ISIS articulate.”
While what happened Friday is rare, Gohel told CNN that people worldwide should brace themselves for more such violence to come.
“Terrorism is something that, unfortunately, we’re going to have to accept as part of our daily lives,” said Gohel, who is also an Islamist ideology expert at the London School of Economics. “Terrorism is now diffuse: It’s not autonomous, it’s not necessarily being coordinated by one particular group, (and) it can often be very spontaneous.
“… Gone are the days of the al Qaeda large-scale plots where the cell was big, the authorities could disrupt it, arrest (people) and prosecute. Now are are seeing an increase in the volume of terrorism because the plots sometimes actually are on a smaller scale (which makes them) harder to protect, harder to monitor.”
ISIS had vowed museum attack ‘just the start’
Tunisia is the birthplace of the Arab Spring and perhaps its lone success story. But the North African nation is not without its issues, including an uneven economy marred by high unemployment and the distinction of having more citizens — up to 3,000 — thought to have gone to Iraq and Syria to fight as jihadists, according to the London-based International Centre for the Study of Radicalization.
Terrorists within Tunisia have been targeted before, as part of apparent attempts to hurt Tunisia’s economy by scaring off some of the millions who come each year to the country for its culture and Mediterranean Sea beaches.
The prime example, until Friday, had been the killing of 23 people — most of whom vacationing aboard two cruise ships — last March at the landmark Bardo Museum in Tunis.
At the time, that attack was the deadliest on tourists in the Arab world since the 1997 massacre in Luxor, Egypt.
In a subsequent audio statement, ISIS identified two men — Abu Zakariya al-Tunisi and Abu Anas al-Tunisi — who it said used “automatic weapons and hand grenades” to kill and injure what it called “crusaders and apostates.”
That message also warned that the Bardo Museum attack was “just the start.”
Friday’s hotel attack will do nothing to calm fears about more violence, especially for tourists.
Belgian carrier JetAir not only canceled all its flights to Tunisia in the wake of this new violence, but had one flight turn around mid-flight and return to Brussels. And TUI tour operators Jetair, Sunjets.be and VIP Selection have canceled all departures to Tunisia until further notice.
And Tunisians themselves looked inward once again, forced to face the scourge of terrorism and figure out what to do next.
“Tunisia has undergone a remarkable democratic transition and is the success story of the Arab Spring. But our country is still fragile,” said the Ennahda Party, a moderate Islamic group that’s part of Tunisia’s coalition government.
“There is a tiny but poisonous fringe of society across our region which has wrongly interpreted the Islamic faith and wishes to destroy Tunisia’s progress, at any cost. … Today’s attack will not weaken the commitment of Tunisians and people around the world to the values of democracy, equality and the fundamental importance of human life.”
