Tunisia makes first beach attack arrests

Tunisia said yesterday it had made its first arrests after a beach massacre that killed 38 people, as European officials paid tribute to victims of the country's worst jihadist attack.

British Home Secretary Theresa May, speaking at the scene of Friday's gun attack at a Tunisian holiday resort, vowed that "the terrorists will not win" after London warned that Britain's death toll could rise to "around 30".

The massacre, claimed by the Islamic State group, was the deadliest for Britain since the 2005 London bombings, and there are fears it could inflict a devastating blow to Tunisia's vital tourism industry.

Interior Minister Hajem Gharsalli said the authorities had arrested "a significant number of people from the network that was behind this terrorist criminal", referring to the lone gunman.

May travelled yesterday to the resort of Port el Kantaoui south of Tunis, and promised to fight extremism in the wake of the attack.