Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi admitted in an interview broadcast on Tuesday that the country was not prepared for last week’s jihadist beach massacre.
Essebsi said security had been boosted in other areas for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, a time of Islamist violence in previous years, but that the authorities had not expected the beaches to be a target.
“It is true that we were surprised by this incident,” Essebsi told France’s Europe 1 radio.
“They made arrangements for the month of <g data-gr-id="19">Ramadan,</g> but never did they think they would need to do so on the beaches.”
Essebi’s comments came a day before Tunisia is to deploy 1,000 armed officers to reinforce tourism police along its Mediterranean coastline in a bid to reassure European holidaymakers and limit the damage to its tourism industry.
Late Monday, Tourism Minister Selma Elloumi Rekik told reporters she feared Tunisia may lose a billion dinars (USD 515 million, 460 million euros) in tourism earnings this year.
Thirty-eight people were killed in Friday’s attack, the majority of them British tourists. A Tunisian identified as 23-year-old Seifeddine Rezgui pulled a Kalashnikov assault rifle from inside a beach umbrella and went on a bloody rampage on the beach and beside a hotel pool.
The gunman was eventually shot <g data-gr-id="21">dead</g> but there has been <g data-gr-id="20">criticism</g> of the length of time it took.