Port el Kantaoui---Planeloads of shocked foreign tourists flew out of Tunisia Saturday after a beachside massacre claimed by the Islamic State jihadist group killed 38 people and prompted a major security clampdown.
The impoverished North African nation, bracing for a devastating blow to tourism, announced plans to deploy troops at vulnerable sites and shut dozens of mosques accused of inciting extremism.
Many of the victims were from Britain, which announced that at least 15 of its citizens were killed in Friday's gun assault in the popular resort of Port el Kantaoui and that the number "may well rise".
The Tunisian authorities, facing the difficult task of identifying victims mown down in their beachwear, said the dead also included at least one Belgian and a German.
One woman from Portugal and one from Ireland were said by their governments to have also been killed when the assailant pulled a gun from inside a beach umbrella and opened fire on tourists on the sand and by a pool.
It was the deadliest attack in Tunisia's recent history.
In London, Prime Minister David Cameron warned the country needed to prepare "for the fact that many of those killed in the attack were British".
He added: "These were innocent holidaymakers, relaxing and enjoying time with their friends and families."
The shooting followed a March attack claimed by IS on Tunis's National Bardo Museum that killed 21 foreign tourists and a policeman.
"It's very painful," said Alya, who lives in nearby Sousse. "The wounds were still healing from the Bardo attack, and now we've been dealt an even bigger blow."
Another 39 people including 25 Britons, seven Tunisians and three Belgians were wounded in Friday's attack, the health ministry said.
Prime Minister Habib Essid on Saturday announced that from next month armed guards would be deployed all along the coast and inside hotels.
- Fears for future -
But Tunisians who rely on tourism for their livelihoods fear it will come too late.
"If I were in their shoes, I wouldn't set foot in Tunisia right now," sighed Imed Triki, a shopkeeper in Sousse.
"After this catastrophe, it's normal that they leave the country so quickly. Do they come here on holiday or to die?"
On Saturday, an armed policeman in plain clothes was guarding the beach where the carnage unfolded.
Tourists' personal belongings, abandoned in the panic, were still strewn across the sand.
AFP
