Tunisia Hotel Gunman Trained in Libya Jihadist Camp

This article originally appeared at Reuters:

The Tunisian gunman who carried out a deadly attack on a hotel last Friday trained in a jihadist camp in Libya last year, Tunisia’s government said on Tuesday.

The death toll from the assault on the Imperial Marhaba beach hotel in the popular resort town of Sousse was revised down on Tuesday to 38 from a previously given 39. Most of the victims were British tourists.

A spokesman for the prime minister said Saif Rezgui, who was killed by police following the rampage, was in Libya at the same time as two Tunisian gunmen who subsequently stormed the Tunis Bardo museum in March.

The museum assault killed 21 people. The twin attacks have dealt a brutal blow to the country’s vital tourism industry.

Authorities have arrested three others for allegedly helping to plan Rezgui’s attack, a security source said.

“Rezgui had training in Libya at the end of 2014. He was trained during the same time inLibya as the Bardo attackers,” prime ministerial spokesman Dafer Neji told Reuters.

Libya, caught in a multi-sided battle between two rival governments and their armed factions, has become a focus for Islamic State supporters and other jihadist groups who have taken advantage of the security chaos.

Read the full story at Reuters.