Tunisia Attack Demonstrates Terrorists’ New Target on Tourism

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On Friday, June 26, a suicide bomber attacked a Tunisian beach resort located in Sousse, Tunisia. The location of the attack was the Imperial Marhaba Hotel, a popular tourist location for many Europeans and Tunisians. The scene was described by British tourist Gary Pine saying, “We thought fire crackers were going off but you could see quite quickly what was going on. There was a mass exodus off the beach. My son was in the sea at the time and myself and my wife were shouting at him to get out and as he ran up he said I’ve just saw someone get shot.”

The Associated Press has reported that the victims are “mostly tourists” and include British, German and Belgian nationals, while the Irish media source has confirmed that an Irish woman was among the victims. The Tunisia health ministry has reported that there are 37 dead and 36 wounded as a result of the attack.

This attack accompanies the attacks in Kuwait and France today, all following the audio message put forth by Islamic State spokesman Abu Muhammad al- Adnani a few days ago which said to use Ramadan as “a time of calamity for the infidels … Shias and apostate Muslims.”

This bombing comes after the Islamic State attack on the Tunisia National Bardo Museum in March, which is another common Tunisia attraction for tourists. In February the Interior Ministry in Tunisia arrested 32 people returning from Syria for planning “spectacular attacks.”

Sherina Tadros, a Sky News reporter, stated in March that “the bulk of foreign fighters who have joined the ranks of IS come from Tunisia.” An article published by The Economist shows that more foreign fighters in Syria come from Tunisia than anywhere else in the world, a reported 3,000 fighters per million. And according to the Middle East Monitor, Tunisia produces the second highest number of foreign fighters for the Islamic State in total.

Terrorist attacks targeting tourist populations are appearing more frequently, as seen in Egypt. Tourism is a valuable part of the Tunisian economy, with 424,707 British nationals visiting Tunisia in 2014. The International Business Times reports that tourism in 2013 was 15.2 percent of Tunisia’s GDP. This attack will negatively effect tourism in Tunisia, which was recovering after the fall in the industry seen throughout the middle east and northern Africa after the Arab Spring.

The British government’s Cobra emergency committee is set to meet this afternoon to discuss the terrorist attacks not only in Tunisia, but in France and Kuwait today as well.

Prime Minister David Cameron stated, “The people who do this do it in the name of a twisted perverted ideology.”

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