Britain urges citizens to leave Tunisia due to 'highly likely' terrorist attack

LONDON, July 10 (UPI) -- Citing developed counter-terror intelligence, the British government on Thursday encouraged all its citizens to leave or refrain from visiting the African nation of Tunisia due to the high likelihood of a terrorist act there.

London's warning comes nearly two weeks after 30 Britons were killed by an AK-47-wielding terrorist at Tunisia's beachfront city of Sousse. However, the tone of Thursday's warning possesses greater urgency than did alerts Britain has given in previous weeks -- because, officials said, the risk of an attack is much higher.

"The intelligence and threat picture has developed considerably, leading us to the view that a further terrorist attack is highly likely," British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said in a report by the New York Times. "The Tunisians have made clear they want to track down further individuals."

Tunisia, Africa's northernmost country, is a popular tourist destination in the Mediterranean -- but is rife with tension, as terrorist groups exist in close proximity there.

London did not give details about or speculate on anything specific regarding a future attack, but said its warning was partially prompted by the investigation into the Sousse attack on June 26, as well as a separate attack in March.

British officials say in both cases, Westerners may have been targeted by a terror group trained in Libya, the Times report said.

Perhaps as many as 3,000 British citizens might currently be in Tunisia, and some travel agencies have already taken steps to recall some of them.

"As always, we have been closely following the advice from the Foreign & Commonwealth Office and local authorities to monitor the situation in Tunisia," the Thomas Cook travel agency said on its Facebook page Thursday. "In response to the recent change in FCO advice we have taken this decision to bring all Thomas Cook customers back to the U.K. as soon as we can, using third-party carriers."

"We are also sending our Specialist Assistance Teams to Tunisia to offer customers additional support in resort," Thomas Cook added, also noting it has canceled all trips to Tunisia through at least Oct. 31. "We are committed to doing everything we can to support our guests in Tunisia at this time."

Tunisia's government has not yet commented on British officials' new warning.

"Tunisia, which is dear to all of us, is going through difficult circumstances, exceptional circumstances, that necessitate exceptional measures to face them and prevent a worse situation," Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi said following the Sousse attack. "Our security forces are in a full alert status, but we do have weaknesses."

Essebsi even declared a 30-day state of emergency following the Sousse attack, mindful of the fact that terrorism could sink the Tunisian economy.

"If such incidents happen again, the state will collapse," he said.