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Sousse governor among officials fired over Tunisia attack

By AFP
Tunisia Flowers lay on the beach during a ceremony on July 3, 2015, in memory of those killed by a jihadist gunman in front of the Riu Imperial Marhaba Hotel in Port el Kantaoui, on the outskirts of Sousse, Tunisia.  By Fethi Belaid AFPFile
JUL 4, 2015 LISTEN
Flowers lay on the beach during a ceremony on July 3, 2015, in memory of those killed by a jihadist gunman in front of the Riu Imperial Marhaba Hotel in Port el Kantaoui, on the outskirts of Sousse, Tunisia. By Fethi Belaid (AFP/File)

Tunis (AFP) - Several Tunisian officials including the governor of Sousse have been sacked after the jihadist attack on a beach resort that killed 38 tourists, an aide to the premier said Saturday.

"Just as there have been security failures, there have also been political failures," the prime minister's communications adviser Dhafer Neji told AFP.

He said those fired included the governor of the Sousse region where the June 26 attack took place, as well as police officials.

Among the policemen dismissed were three from Sousse, one from Gaafour, the home city in the northwest of the jihadist who carried out the attack in Port El Kantaoui, and one from Kairouan where he was studying, he added.

Interior ministry spokesman Mohamed Ali Aroui confirmed that "several (police) officials have been dismissed at Sousse and Kerouan," including the chief of the Sousse region.

The gunman who killed the tourists -- among them 30 Britons -- was 23-year-old student Seifeddine Rezgui, who was himself shot dead by police after his deadly rampage.

The security forces were criticised after the attack for not reacting quickly enough, after witnesses said at least 30 minutes elapsed before police arrived.

On Friday, the authorities admitted for the first time that there had been security failures, with Prime Minister Habib Essid saying: "The time of the reaction -- this is the problem."

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