Algerians scrambling out of mayhem-like situation in Tunisia after Sousse resort terrorist attack

Thousands of scared foreign holidaymakers including hundreds of Algerians have been leaving Tunisia since yesterday after an ISIS-linked terrorist killed 39 people, most of them British tourists, at a beach resort in the southern coastal city of Sousse.

The so-called “ISIS” (“Daesh”) terror group which controls swathes of Iraq and Syria, claimed responsibility for the hideous attack, the deadliest in Tunisia’s recent history.

Dozens more people were wounded when the assailant pulled a gun from inside a beach umbrella and opened fire on crowds of tourists on the beach and by a hotel pool in the popular Mediterranean resort of Port el Kantaoui.

Hundreds of baffled Algerian tourists present in Tunisia on the day of the ill-fated Sousse shooting have decided to pack up and cut short their stay there because things went completely awry owing to this horrendous tragedy which spawned a mayhem-like atmosphere not conducive at all to rest and quietude as in normal times, according to statements made by some of them to “Echorouk”.

Meanwhile, Tunisian Prime Minister Habib Essid announced that from next month armed tourist security officers would be deployed all along the coast and inside hotels.

But a heavy blow had already been delivered to the key tourism industry.

The Tunisian premier said a raft of new anti-terrorism measures would go into effect from July 1, including the deployment of reserve troops to reinforce security at “sensitive sites… and places that could be targets of terrorist attacks.”

But tour operators scrambled to fly thousands of fearful holidaymakers home from Tunisia.

During the night, 13 aircraft took off from Enfidha airport north of Sousse.

Travel companies Thomson and First Choice said 10 Thomson Airways flights would be repatriating about 2,500 Thomson and First Choice customers on Saturday.

They said some of their customers had been caught up in the appalling massacre.

The shooting followed a March attack claimed by “ISIS” terror group on Tunis’ Bardo National Museum that killed 21 foreign tourists and a policeman, and the tourism industry had already been bracing for a heavy blow.

Tourism accounts for seven percent of Tunisia’s GDP and almost 400,000 direct and indirect jobs.