“Deliberate and unjustifiable” delays taken by Tunisian security authorities to arrive at the scene of the mass shooting in Sousse were down to “simple cowardice”, an inquest has heard.
Seifeddine Rezgui, a 23-year-old extremist, opened fire with an assault rifle on the beach outside the Riu Imperial Marhaba hotel on 26 June 2015 before rampaging through the five-star building, killing 38 holidaymakers.
The inquests into the deaths of 30 Britons killed in the massacre have heard details of the chaotic response by the differing security forces on the ground, including the tourist security police, national police and marine guards.
A summary of the Tunisian investigation into the atrocity, produced by Judge Akremi, revealed an armed team of tourist police, who were judged as being capable of bringing an end to the attack, took 30 minutes to arrive when it should have taken them three.
The summary, read in full to the inquest in London, also revealed two marine guards who arrived at the scene failed to stop Rezgui when one of them fainted, while the other stripped out of his uniform to lower his risk of being a target.
Rezgui, who was being guided by a terror cell based in Sousse, chose the Imperial Marhaba because it was “an easy target” and had conducted reconnaissance missions before the attack.
The hotel was targeted because a “considerable” number of foreign tourists stayed there and few Tunisians, the summary said. Rezgui was supplied with a Kalashnikov assault rifle and five ammunition magazines each containing 30 bullets, as well as three hand grenades and fireworks.
Rezgui’s father told the investigation his son was a student and had started practising religion in the previous 18 months. A postmortem revealed Rezgui had been shot 20 times, while toxicological tests revealed the presence of an unnamed drug that brings about “aggression and extreme anger that leads to murders being committed”, the summary said.
The head of the police operations room for northern Sousse, known as CA, told the investigation he received an emergency call reporting gunfire at the hotel and attempted to dispatch the tourist police.
“CA stated that from the outset he asked the tourist security team leader to go to the scene with his men but there was no response,” the inquest heard.
“He stated that the refusal to intervene to stop the terrorist attack was due to simple cowardice, when they could have prevented the loss of life.”
The summary revealed that the team leader of the tourist security police, instead of heading to the scene of the shooting, went to the national police station to acquire more weapons.
The unit, which included two tourist police officers, were in possession of two assault rifles. Meanwhile, the team leader, known as AE, and one of the officers, spent eight minutes trying to find weapons in the police station to no avail.
In his conclusions on timing, Judge Akamai said: “AE spent more than eight minutes inside the national security police station in northern Sousse.
“He could have intervened and stopped the terrorist attack in no more than three minutes. In fact it took AE more than 30 minutes to arrive at the scene.”
After the attack, the Tunisian interior minister convened a meeting with security authorities, details of which were provided to the investigation.
“He [The minister] explained that he examined the fixed surveillance cameras in Sousse national security district, which showed that the tourist security vehicle patrol and bike patrol deliberately slowed down and did not intervene to stop the terrorist attack at that time,” the summary said.
“He explained that this was absolutely unjustifiable and confirmed that what his team committed what amounts to an offence for which it must take the blame.”
The inquest heard details of two coast guards, known as commander CE and corporal CG, who were on duty and were responsible for the area including the Imperial Marhaba.
After receiving a call the two men, who had one assault rifle between them, headed to the beach on their inflatable boat.
Upon arrival, commander CE fainted and corporal CG removed his clothes to avoid detection as a guard.
“Commander CE saw the perpetrator take a hand grenade from his right pocket and throw it, but it didn’t explode,” the summary said.
“Commander CE then stumbled and fell next to the pool, where he fainted because of terror and panic that the terrorist may have another hand grenade.”
“Corporal CG took off his shirt fearing that the terrorist would notice he was a security guard and that he was wearing a National Guard uniform.”
The inquest continues.
