SOUSSE, Tunisia — A young man unfurled an umbrella and pulled out a Kalashnikov, spraying gunfire on European sunbathers and killing at least 39 at a Tunisian beach resort.
The attack, the country’s worst ever, comes just months after the March 18 assault on the national Bardo museum in Tunis that killed 22 people, again mostly tourists.
President Beji Caid Essebsi promised “painful but necessary” measures, adding: “No country is safe from terrorism, and we need a global strategy of all democratic countries.”
Rafik Chelli, the secretary of state of the Interior Ministry, told The Associated Press that the attack was carried out by a young student not previously known to authorities. The shooting spree ended when he was shot to death by police.
Tourists described hearing what sounded like fireworks. They ran for their lives when they realized it was gunfire. The Health Ministry said the dead included Tunisians, British, Germans and Belgians.
