Tunisia launches nationwide manhunt for attack accomplices

Sousse, Tunisia • The student who massacred holidaymakers on a Tunisian beach and at a swanky resort hotel acted alone during the attack but had accomplices who supported him beforehand, an Interior Ministry official said Sunday.

Police were searching nationwide for more suspects after the slaughter of at least 38 people in Sousse on Friday, in Tunisia's deadliest ever such attack. The attacker's father and three roommates were detained and being questioned in the capital, Tunis, Interior Ministry spokesman Mohamed Ali Aroui told The Associated Press.

The attacker has been identified as Seifeddine Rezgui, a 24-year-old graduate of Tunisia's Kairouan University, where he had been living with the other students. The attack was claimed by the radical Islamic State group.

"We are sure that others helped, but did not participate," Aroui said. "They participated indirectly."

Investigators believe the suspected accomplices provided the Kalashnikov assault rifle to Rezgui and helped him get to the scene, Aroui said.

Authorities have yet to suggest a motive for the carnage. Friday's attack on the Imperial Marhaba Hotel shook this North African nation that thrives on tourism and has struggled since its 2011 revolution to be the one Arab Spring country that succeeds in transitioning from authoritarianism to democracy.

The bloodshed shocked European nations across the Mediterranean worried for the safety of their citizens who populate Tunisian beaches — and about what it may mean for their own countries in an age of globalized terrorism.

At least 15 Britons were among the 38 killed. Three Irish nationals were also among the dead.

Tunisian authorities moved quickly to bolster security for tourists and other vacationers.