Tunisia arrests eight with ‘direct links’ to beach massacre

Tunisia has arrested eight people in connection with last week’s jihadist massacre at a seaside resort, as the remains of more British victims were set to be flown home Thursday.

“Eight people with direct links to the carrying out of the operation, including a woman, have been arrested,” said Kamel Jendoubi, a minister who heads a crisis group set up after the attack.

“The security services have been able to… uncover and destroy the network that was behind this operation,” Jendoubi told a press conference, without specifying whether more arrests would be made.

Friday’s attack saw 23-year-old student Seifeddine Rezgui gun down 38 foreign tourists after pulling a Kalashnikov assault rifle from a beach umbrella at the Port El Kantaoui resort south of Tunis.

Thirty of the victims were Britons and Jendoubi said British authorities were assisting with the investigation.

“As part of the security cooperation between Tunisia and Britain, 10 British investigators are working on the probe,” he said.

The jihadist massacre was Tunisia’s worst ever and saw Britain’s worst loss of life in such an attack since the July 2005 London bombings.

After the attack — which was claimed by the jihadist Islamic State group — Tunisia’s government pledged to boost security around hotels, beaches and attractions.

Jendoubi said 1,377 extra armed security officers had been deployed to reinforce police already on the ground.

Britain’s Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond on Thursday confirmed Tunisia’s formal identification of 30 of the victims as British citizens.