Laughing and joking among the midday bathers and sunseekers, he looked like any other tourist.
In fact Seifeddine Yacoubi was carefully selecting the victims he would murder with the Kalashnikov hidden in his parasol.
The British were his prime targets on the crowded Tunisian beachfront at El Kantaoui near Sousse.
But Germans, Belgians and Tunisians were also among his 37 victims – with 36 seriously wounded.
'He was laughing and joking around, like a normal guy,' said one witness. 'He was choosing who to shoot. Some people, he was saying to them 'you go away'. He was choosing tourists, British, French.'
Terrorist: New images show the final moments of a gunman (pictured) who caused havoc by opening fire on a beach packed with holidaymakers in Tunisia today, before police shot him dead
Predator: Assault rifle in hand, he roams the streets of the popular holiday resort town Sousse where he and possible accomplices killed at least 37 people today
Killer: Witnesses in Sousse said the terrorists used a jet ski and a boat to access the beach and hid their machine guns in parasols before indiscriminately opening fire on civilians
Response: The corpse of the gunman, who is believed to be a 23-year-old Seifeddine Yacoubi, was later pictured on the side of the road
An officer speaks on his phone as he walks past the dead body of one of the gunmen on the ground
Shot: Emergency workers tend to one of the 36 people to be injured when a gunman who is believed to be called Seifeddine Yacoubi
Bodies lie on a beach in Sousse after gunmen opened fire on tourists at two hotels, killing at least 37
Massacre: At least 37 people were killed on the beach when gunmen opened fire on innocent sunbathers
Killed: A 16-year-old British boy saw his grandmother and parents gunned down by the men who killed 37 (one pictured)
Deceased: Tunisian lifeguards stand next to a covered body in the resort town of Sousse, which has been brought to its knees following a merciless terrorist attack
Slaughtered: One of the 37 people killed in the attack on the Tunisian beach lies underneath the towel as horrified onlookers surround the scene
Bloodied: The blood-stained Sudoku book and sandals of one of the people who was on the ill-fated beach when the gunmen arrived on jet skis
It has been reported that the attack happened on the private beach of the Royal Kenz Hotel, which is situated 400 metres away
Onslaught: One of the survivors of the massacre on a beach in Tunisia sits inside the Imperial Marhaba Hotel, where a window was smashed by gunfire
Attack: A broken glass window of the Imperial Marhaba hotel is seen after a gunman opened fire at the beachside hotel in Sousse
Olivia Leathley, 24, a chef from Chorlton, Manchester, said she and her boyfriend escaped the massacre at the Imperial Marhaba hotel only because she was charging her phone.
'We then heard a shot from inside the hotel. Somebody just shouted 'run' so we sprinted off in all directions,' she said. 'The machine gun fire was so close, it sounded like it was right behind us.
'I was then on the phone to my dad, screaming at the top of my lungs and telling him 'I love you, I love you'.
'My dad Glenn was saying 'I love you' and shouting prayers down the phone, begging 'Lord, protect them'. We eventually found an office building and hid in a room. As soon as I got somewhere safe, I threw up.
'I later came across a woman who said her husband had been shot in the stomach on the beach. He was bleeding heavily, but she had to leave him there.'
Emotions running high: A woman launches a furious attack on a man apparently arrested over the shootings
The suspect gunman was attacked after reportedly being captured by the entrance to the Sousse motorway
Tunisian security forces escort a man through the streets of Sousse as he is attacked by a woman
The terrorist attack happened in the popular holiday destination of Sousse in the north of Tunisia
Grateful to be alive: Tourists console each other following a shooting attack in the resort town of Sousse
Departure: Survivors seen inside the bus after gunmen stormed a popular tourist resort in Tunisia
Alive: Survivors of the fatal beach attack retreat to the safety of the Imperial hotel in Sousse
Scared: Hand in hand, holidaymakers flee from the beach in Sousse where dozens were massacred today
In the dark: Holiday makers who survived the attack wait patiently at the Imperial Marhaba Hotel for news
A hotel worker said a shoeless Yacoubi, who arrived on the beach by inflatable boat, had tried to blend in with the crowd. He added: 'He opened fire with a Kalashnikov. He was a young guy dressed in shorts – like he was a tourist himself.'
Rafik Chelli, Tunisia's secretary of state for national security, said the gunman – named locally as Yacoubi – entered the Marhaba complex through the pool area.
'He entered by the beach, dressed like someone who was going to swim, and he had a beach umbrella with his gun in it. Then when he came to the beach he used his weapon,' Mr Chelli said. Yacoubi was shot dead by the security forces.
Because of the Ramadan religious period, there were few Tunisians on the beach and few children because most schools have yet to break up.
Houcine Jenayah, a businessman, said the gunman arrived at speed on an inflatable Zodiac boat.
'He opened fire and had grenades with him,' said Mr Jenayah. 'He hid his Kalashnikov behind a parasol that he had in his hand.'
Within minutes of the massacre, photographs had been posted on an Instagram account showing a middle-aged man wearing blue shorts lying face down in the sand with a pool of blood around his head.
Other bodies were covered with towels and marked with numbers.
Medics help an injured man in Sousse after gunmen stormed beaches of two hotels in the town of Sousse
Line of fire: One of the women injured during the shooting at the beach in Sousse is taken to hospital
Hospital: Injured people are treated near the area where an attack took place in Sousse
Hurt: Emergency vehicles are parked outside the Imperial Marhaba Hotel in the resort town of Sousse
Father-of-three John Yeoman, 46, of Kettering, Northamptonshire, used a bed to barricade himself and his family in the room of his hotel. 'We were in the pool when we heard automatic gunfire. People ran past saying there was an armed man on the beach,' he said.
Tweeting a picture of his barricaded room, he added: 'Hope it's enough. It's been going on for 20 minutes. We blocked in our room. There are sounds of a gun battle.'
The final moments of the terrorist were captured on camera as, weapon in hand, he prowled the streets of Sousse. With the gunman dead, police pursued suspects through the streets of Sousse, which is about 90 miles south of the capital Tunis.
More than three hours after the massacre an apparent accomplice was arrested near the motorway.
Pictures showed him being punched in the face by a furious woman as he was marched through the town by armed police.
Police were pictured detaining several men in the aftermath of the carnage but it was not clear last night whether the suspects were connected to the attack.
While there were multiple accounts of what happened, most witnesses spoke of a lone gunman who was later shot dead by the Tunisian security forces.
GUNMAN WAS RIGHT NEXT TO US... WE SAW PEOPLE DYING
Two terrified British women were yards from the attacker when he pulled a gun from behind an umbrella and started to shoot.
Ellie Makin, 22, of Ripon, North Yorkshire, and her friend Debbie Horsfall, from Huddersfield, were relaxing on the beach when the Tunisian horror began.
Speaking from her barricaded hotel room last night, Miss Makin said: 'We were on the beach and there was a man on our right with an umbrella.
'He dropped the umbrella and pulled a gun, he started shooting everyone on the right. He was just shooting people and they dropped to the floor. I saw people dying around me.
'Everyone started screaming to run, so we just turned and ran.'
The pair sprinted to the hotel to hide from the attacker, but were told by staff the sounds were just a lawnmower.
Miss Makin, a tennis coach, said: 'I said 'No it's not, that's gunfire!' No one knew what they were doing.'
Before long the gunman burst into the hotel and started to shoot. Miss Makin ran upstairs and hid in a stranger's room. Last night said she 'had never feared for her life as much as today'.
Holed up with Miss Horsfall last night, she said there was not enough security surrounding the hotel.
She said: 'And now there's no police, no one protecting us. They say they've got the place on lockdown, that's bull****.
'They told us to get into our rooms, but we've got another room as there was shooting in the one next to it.
Eyewitness: Ellie Makin (pictured), 22, of Ripon, North Yorkshire, and her friend Debbie Horsfall, from Huddersfield, were relaxing on the beach when the Tunisian horror began
Lucky: Olivia Leathley (left), 24, a chef from Chorlton, Manchester, said she and her boyfriend escaped the massacre at the Imperial Marhaba hotel only because she was charging her phone
Safety: Terrified tourists are holed up inside the Imperial hotel in the resort town of Sousse, a popular tourist destination 90 miles south of the Tunisian capita
Defence: A holidaymaker John Yeoman has barricaded himself inside his hotel room in Sousse (pictured)
'We don't want to stay in here. We just want to get home now, right now. I want to go home. No one is telling us anything, people are saying there's still attackers on the run but we don't know.
'I couldn't get through to the Foreign Office for an hour and a half and they just told me to wait for a call.
'Another man staying here went to check out outside and said he saw no police, no cordon, anything.'
Miss Makin posted a picture of her Facebook update on Twitter last night. It said: 'The most terrifying day of my life in Tunisia.
'I have never feared for my life as much as today. Get me back home. Scared isn't even the word.'
Ellie's father, Michael, contacted the Daily Mail to say there was 'barely any security' in the Imperial Marhaba hotel where his daughter is staying.
Mr Makin said: 'My daughter was the first person to see the gunmen. She saw the man next to her get shot dead.
'She ran back to the hotel and shouted the man had a gun. She is OK, but she said there is barely any security at the hotel. It's really worrying.'
When Miss Horsfall took refuge in the hotel she heard a woman say her husband had been shot. 'All we could think of was we're next,' she said.
Stacey Webb, 23, from Barry, South Wales, said she locked herself in a hotel bathroom with seven others following the shooting. I have never been more scared in my life but I hope God is with me,' she said.
Kelsie Collins, 24, of Pontypridd, who is staying at the Sahara Beach Resort near the seafront, said her family had been told to stay in their room.
She said: 'There's mostly Brits here in the hotel but nobody is really saying anything to each other, everyone's confused and in shock.'
Zohra Driss, owner of the Marhaba, confirmed the gunman started firing from the beach before moving on to the hotel swimming pool. Last night it was claimed that around 15 young Tunisians had been stopped from travelling to Belgrade and 30 others banned from travelling to Istanbul for reasons that were not disclosed.
Interior ministry sources denied reports that Tunisians aged under 35 had been banned from leaving the country.
But they admitted port and airport controls had been strengthened and youngsters were being quizzed as part of 'preventative measures'.
Tunisia has seen militant Islamists gain strength since the overthrow of long-serving ruler Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali in a popular uprising in 2011.
Democratic elections after the removal of Ben Ali saw the moderate Islamist Ennahda party take power before the secularist Nidaa Tounes party won control following a parliamentary poll in October.
Neither party has been able effectively to combat Islamist violence.
This has been made worse by a conflict in neighbouring Libya and by Tunisian fighters returning home after going to join Islamist campaigns in Iraq and Syria where up to 10,000 have fought.
Around 1.2million tourists – a third of them British – visit Tunisia every year. Most are drawn to Sousse, which has large beachfront hotels and wide sandy beaches.
Slaughter on the sunbeds: Five Britons killed by ISIS as UK police told 'You're next'
Terror outrages in three countries left 63 people dead yesterday, five of them British.
Security officials fear the slaughter in Tunisia, Kuwait and France could be followed by further attacks around the globe – including on police and soldiers in the UK.
The atrocities – timed to coincide with the Muslim festival of Ramadan – are believed to have been co-ordinated by Islamic State.
The British victims died in the Tunisian resort of El Kantaoui near Sousse. A gunman disguised as a tourist and hiding a Kalashnikov under an umbrella ran amok among holidaymakers relaxing on the beach. A 16-year-old Briton saw his parents and grandmother gunned down in front of him.
Hero: British man Matthew James (right), who was shot three times on the beach during the onslaught, used his body as a human shield to protect his fiancee Sarah Wilson (left) from being killed by the maniac gunman
Brave: Speaking from the hospital in Tunisia Matthew's (pictured) fiance Sarah said: 'He took a bullet for me... I owe him my life'
Murdered: Lorna Carty (pictured) from Ireland is thought to be one of the 37 people killed in Sousse
Another Briton became a human shield to save the life of his girlfriend. Thirty-seven people were killed and 36 wounded at the Imperial Marhaba and Bellevue hotels.
In Lyon, a businessman was decapitated in an attack on a gas plant and a suicide bomber blew himself up inside a Kuwaiti mosque, killing 25.
The triple terror attacks came as:
- UK police were put on alert and the armed forces told not to wear their uniforms in public;
- David Cameron expressed Britain's 'solidarity in fighting this evil of terrorism';
- The military is on standby to help evacuate the 20,000 UK tourists in Tunisia if needed;
- The Tunisian fanatic selected Western tourists before opening fire;
- France said the gas plant suspect was a known extremist.
In Tunisia, terrified British families told how they ran for their lives and cowered in their rooms to escape the horror on the beach. The gunman walked 'from sun shade to sun shade' selecting his victims, singling out the British.
Officials said Tunisians, Germans and Belgians were also among the dead.
The killer was identified as Seifeddine Yacoubi, 23, an aviation student from the Tunisian city of Kairouan.
The attacks come just four days after Abu Mohammad al-Adnani, a spokesman for IS, chillingly called on followers to strike against its enemies during Ramadan.
He said: 'O Allah make this month a month of victories for the Muslims everywhere and make it a month of disasters, defeats, and disgrace for the kuffar (unbelievers) everywhere.'
Intelligence officials in London and Washington have warned of the significance of the unprecedented threat to use Ramadan as a trigger for atrocities.
Bloodied: Emergency workers rushed to get the injured people to a hospital
Embrace: Scared tourists comfort one another at the Imperial Marhaba Hotel having survived the terrifying gun attack outside the beachside hotel
Contemplative: Tourists sit at the terrace of the Imperiale Marhaba hotel after a gunman opened fire at the beachside hotel in Sousse
One senior UK official said of the attacks in France and Tunisia: 'It could happen here. We have been lucky so far. We have been one step ahead and we have managed to stop them – but we will not stop every one.'
Speaking in Brussels yesterday, David Cameron warned: 'This is a threat that faces all of us. These events have taken place today in Tunisia and in France but they can happen anywhere.'
Security sources in the UK say Islamist fanatics are determined to carry out an atrocity against a police officer or another member of the Armed Forces, in the wake of the killing of Drummer Lee Rigby in south-east London.
Soldiers have been told not to wear their uniforms outside barracks amid intelligence that fanatics are searching the internet for the locations of military bases and displays.
Sajjan Gohel of the Asia-Pacific Foundation think-tank said: 'We need to wait to see if the attacks are linked, but Islamic State is going to take credit for all three. Even if they are not directly coordinated attacks, they are very likely to be inspired by IS.'
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