Jihadi's 25-minute rampage: ISIS killer landed on shore by dinghy, fired upon holidaymakers on the beach, then sprayed bullets through the hotel lobby 

• Seifeddine Rezgui arrived on beach at 11.55am in speedboat carrying Kalashnikov rifle inside parasol umbrella
• Witnesses say he spent ten minutes walking along the sand laughing with tourists, telling some to 'go away'
• At 12.05pm he opened fire before running through hotel pool area and lobby, killing 28 people in the process
• Armed police caught up with Rezgui in the streets behind the Imperial Marhaba hotel at 12.30pm and killed him  

By Mark Wood For The Mail On Sunday

Published: 17:42 EST, 27 June 2015 | Updated: 07:18 EST, 28 June 2015

As the Tunisian sun reached its midday peak, and holidaying families laid out their beach towels in readiness for a relaxing afternoon by the sea, Seifeddine Rezgui calmly reached for his AK47 and went on a killing spree which left 39 people dead.

Several brave survivors yesterday gave harrowing accounts of the awful events in Sousse. 

Thanks to their stories and reports from local officials it is possible to piece together a minute-by-minute picture of the slaughter:

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11.55am: Islamic fanatic Rezgui arrives at the beach, pulling up at speed in an inflatable Zodiac dinghy. 

He casually jumps out of the boat and strolls barefoot up the white sand towards hundreds of tourists.

NOON: In dark shorts, T-shirt and necklace, he mingles with holidaymakers. 

Hiding a Kalashnikov in a parasol he is carrying, the 23-year-old student appears to select victims, telling some people who don’t look British: ‘You go away.’

12.05: He makes his way to the stretch of beach assigned to the Imperial Marhaba hotel complex, an all-inclusive resort.

British tourist Elli Makin, 22, watches in horror as the gunman takes his AK47 out from beneath the parasol and opens fire.

Some think the first few shots were directed skywards, possibly towards a hot-air balloon or paraglider, but Rezgui quickly turns his attention to the unsuspecting holidaymakers.

Miss Makin, a tennis coach from Ripon, North Yorkshire, said: ‘He dropped the umbrella and pulled a gun. He was just shooting people and they fell to the floor. I saw people dying around me.’

 

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Matthew James, 30 (left, with fiancee Sarea Wilson, 26), threw himself in front of her, taking three bullets and allowing her to escape. He is now being treated in hospital. Owen Richards, 16 (right image, left), saw brother Joel, 19 (far right), killed along with their uncle Adrian

Amid the mayhem, 16-year-old Owen Richards sees his brother, uncle and grandfather killed in front of him.

Mother-of-two Lorna Carty, from Ireland, is killed. She had been snatching a few final moments on the beach as she waited to fly home with her husband Declan who had been on holiday to recover from heart surgery.

As scores of terrified tourists try to find cover, heroic British engineer Matthew James, 30, throws himself in front of fiancee Saera Wilson, 26. 

Mr James, from Pontypridd, South Wales, is hit in the shoulder chest and hip.

Miss Wilson said: ‘Matthew put himself in front of me and he was hit, he was shouting and blood was pouring out all over. He just told me to go, to look after our kids and that he loved me.’

Miss Wilson hides in a hotel towel cupboard. Much later she gets the news she had prayed for: Mr James survived. She said: ‘His pelvis was shattered and he suffered a heart attack, but he is alive.’

12.10: The gunman runs from the beach through the pool area of the Imperial Marhaba and into the hotel lobby, firing as he goes. 

He seems to know the layout of the hotel well and is able to reload his weapon at will.

At first some tourists think they are hearing fire crackers, but as the true horror of the events unfolding becomes clear, they start to stampede from the beach into hotels, seeking refuge in their rooms. 

Many Britons barricade themselves in and try to get messages to loved ones to let them know what is happening.

 

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Blood is spattered up the steps of the Imperial Marhaba hotel, where gunman Seifeddine Rezgui ran after shooting people on the beach, before tossing homemade explosives at guests

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The usually packed pool area at the Imperial Marhaba hotel is deserted following the attack. Gunman Rezgui ran through here, firing at guests, before heading towards the hotel lobby

Amid the confusion, some British tourists are trapped when hotel staff send them fleeing down a dead-end corridor, where the terrorist threw grenades. 

Rebecca Smith, 22, from Coventry, said: ‘I was peppered with grenade shrapnel. With one hit, I thought my jaw had come off.’

The office administrator and her boyfriend Ross Thompson, 21, ran for their lives as the gunman hunted down his victims. 

Mr Thompson, a fire safety officer, said: ‘We followed the majority of people to the second floor. Staff were saying “Come this way”.

‘But when we got to the end of a corridor it was a dead end. There was no way down but a 30ft drop.

‘We managed to get into a room and barricaded the door. It happened that there were two British ex-military guys with us and they were telling us what to do. We could hear him coming up the stairs. He started firing down the corridor.

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Rezgui is pictured advancing through the streets behind the hotel with his weapon raised, moments before police shot him dead

‘We tried to escape from the room but he caught us. There was no way out, we were trapped and then he started lobbing these home-made bombs at us.

‘He was about 20 metres away, he had us trapped and he was shooting at people too.

‘People were running around like flies. There were three people killed. I thought it was game over... I was shot in the toe.’

12.20: The gunman exits the Imperial Marhaba and fires shots into the neighbouring Hotel Rui Bellevue.

The noise of larger explosions joins the sound of near constant gunfire, but as yet it is unclear if they are from grenades carried by the terrorist or by police who are now trying to capture him.

12.25: With armed police in pursuit, the terrorist runs through dusty and potholed back streets between the two hotels.

12.30: Rezgui is cornered and shot dead in a car park at the back of the Imperial Marhaba.

3.00: A man believed to be an accomplice is arrested on a motorway into Sousse.

He is attacked by outraged locals as he is led through town by armed police.

By late afternoon as the sun starts to set, the once-idyllic scene at the beach has been transformed into a major investigation area.

Blood stains dry into the white sand and among the upturned sunloungers lie the bodies of some of the dead.

 

Gunman shot dead by security services in Tunisia

 

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RIDDLE OF THE 'SECOND JIHADI' ARRESTED ON MOTORWAY INTO SOUSSE HOURS AFTER ATTACK TOOK PLACE

Mystery surrounds a man who was arrested after the beach massacre under suspicion of being a second jihadi (right).

Shortly after Seifeddine Rezgui was shot dead by Tunisian officers, the middle-aged man was seized by police near the entrance to the Sousse motorway.

A female onlooker punched him in the face as he was surrounded by armed police before being taken away.

Last night his role in the attack – if he had any at all – remained unclear and Tunisian authorities were yet to comment on his case or release his name.

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Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3141842/Jihadi-s-25-minute-rampage-ISIS-killer-landed-shore-dinghy-fired-holidaymakers-beach-sprayed-bullets-hotel-lobby.html#ixzz3eMO8X07E
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