Tunisia admits it was unprepared for beach attack

Tunis

Tunisia's president has admitted security services were not prepared for last week's jihadist beach massacre, as authorities warned the country is likely to lose more than half-a-billion dollars in tourism revenues.

Friday's carnage -- which saw a gunman kill 38 people, mostly British holidaymakers, at a seaside resort -- was the second attack on tourists in Tunisia claimed by the Islamic State group in just three months.

President Beji Caid Essebsi said security had been boosted in other areas for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which has seen Islamist violence in previous years, but that authorities had not expected beaches to be a target.

"It is true that we were surprised by this incident. Arrangements were made for the month of Ramadan, but they never thought (measures) had to be taken on the beaches," Essebsi said in an interview with French radio broadcast on Tuesday.

On Friday a Tunisian identified as 23-year-old Seifeddine Rezgui pulled a Kalashnikov assault rifle from inside a beach umbrella and went on a bloody rampage at the five-star Riu Imperial Marhaba hotel in Port El Kantaoui near Sousse, south of the capital Tunis.

IS, which controls swathes of Iraq and Syria, swiftly claimed the attack.

The jihadist group had also claimed responsibility for killing 21 tourists and a Tunisian policeman at the National Bardo Museum in Tunis in March.