Jihadists get life term for 2015 attacks on tourists in Tunisia

Tunis, February 9 

A Tunisian court has sentenced seven jihadists to life in prison over attacks at a museum and on a beach in 2015 that killed 60 persons, many of them tourists, prosecutors said on Saturday.

Dozens of defendants faced two separate trials over the closely linked shootings, which occurred just months apart in Tunis and Sousse, but many were acquitted.

Three were given life sentences for homicide over the first attack in March 2015 at the capital’s Bardo museum, in which two gunmen killed 21 foreign tourists and a Tunisian security guard.

Four received the same term for the shooting rampage at a Sousse tourist resort in June that year, which killed 38 persons, mostly British tourists. Other defendants were sentenced to between six and 16 years, said prosecution spokesman Sofiene Sliti on Saturday.

The court heard that the two attacks, both claimed by the Islamic State group (IS), were closely linked. — AP