Tunisian beach massacre "linked" to earlier Museum attack: British police

The Tunisian beach attack in June was "linked" to an earlier attack at a museum in the country's capital Tunis in March, British police said Wednesday. "Detectives investigating the attack on a beach in Sousse, Tunisia, which resulted in 30 Britons being killed, have officially linked it to the attack at the Bardo Museum in the capital Tunis in March," Britain's Metropolitan Police said in a statement. In March, two Tunisians returning from Libya killed 22 people at Tunisia' national Bardo Museum. In June, dozens of people, including 30 British tourists, were killed when at least one gun man opened fire on a Tunisian beachside hotel in the popular resort of Sousse. Since the attack in Sousse, British police have taken a total of 459 statements from witnesses and continue to speak to people who were in the area that day, according to the Metropolitan Police. "Detectives are in the process of examining more than 370 photographic and video files from mobile devices which have been provided by many witnesses to the atrocity," the statement said. Commander Richard Walton, head of the Metropolitan Police's Counter Terrorism Command, confirmed that a team of British officers are working closely with the Tunisian authorities on both investigations and have advised the coroner of "the connection between the two." Around 125 family liaison officers are continuing to provide support to the families of the deceased and victims who survived the attack, it noted. Britain's specialist counter terrorism security advisers have traveled to Tunisia to support the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Tunisian authorities review security at resorts and tourist attractions.