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Britain falls silent for Tunisia attack victims

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Britain's Queen Elizabeth II and Prime Minister David Cameron led a nationwide minute's silence on Friday, a week after a jihadist gun massacre in Tunisia in which 30 out of the 38 victims were Britons.

Flags flew at half-mast as schools, government offices and the Wimbledon tennis tournament fell silent at midday to honour the victims of the worst terror attack on Britons since the 2005 London bombings.

Employees of travel group TUI, which includes operators Thomson and First Choice that organised the holidays of all of the British victims, stood in silence outside the company's headquarters.

There was also a ceremony outside Walsall football stadium in central England in tribute to three local men from the same family who died in the tragedy.

Owen Richards  (C) who lost his brother Joel  his uncle Adrian Evans and his grandfather Patrick Eva...
Owen Richards, (C) who lost his brother Joel, his uncle Adrian Evans and his grandfather Patrick Evans in the Tunisia attacks, observes a minute's silence with his mother Suzy Evans (2nd L) outside Walsall football club, on July 3, 2015
Oli Scarff, AFP

The only surviving family member from the holiday, 16-year-old Owen Richards, observed the silence wearing the club's red shirt and holding his mother's hand outside the grounds.

The moment of remembrance for the attack claimed by the Islamic State group comes a day after the British government raised the possibility of extending air strikes against IS jihadists from Iraq to Syria.

The queen and her husband Prince Philip joined in the silence during a visit to Strathclyde University in Glasgow, while Cameron marked the moment in his Witney constituency northwest of London.

British Prime Minister David Cameron observes a minute's silence during a visit to a Health Cen...
British Prime Minister David Cameron observes a minute's silence during a visit to a Health Centre in his constituency in Witney, England, on July 3, 2015
Daniel Leal-Olivas, Pool/AFP

The profile picture on the prime minister's Twitter account was changed to a sign reading "Remember Tunisia" with the first word written in red.

Britain has launched an investigation into the killings and the police said that they had so far taken 275 witness accounts and that more than 1,200 potential witnesses had returned to Britain.

A special ceremony was also held at the scene of the killings on a sunny beach near Sousse, with dozens of officials and tourists in attendance as Tunisia stepped up security at its holiday resorts.

- Wimbledon joins in mourning -

The killings were the worst-ever massacre in Tunisia, which fears massive damage to its tourism industry.

Spectators and staff stand for a minute's silence in memory of the victims of the June 26 Tunis...
Spectators and staff stand for a minute's silence in memory of the victims of the June 26 Tunisia attacks on day five of the 2015 Wimbledon Championships at The All England Tennis Club in Wimbledon, London, July 3, 2015
Leon Neal, AFP

The sector accounts for about seven percent of gross domestic product in a country already suffering from the upheaval that followed the 2011 overthrow of dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.

St Paul's Cathedral in London joined in the remembrance and the Muslim Council of Britain also urged imams to deliver a sermon of peace at Friday prayers.

At Wimbledon, the start of matches was delayed by 45 minutes to 12:15pm (1115 GMT) to allow spectators and tennis players to take part.

The bodies of 25 of the British victims have now been repatriated on a military transport plane to Royal Air Force base Brize Norton.

Eight were brought back to Britain on Friday and the final five will be returned on Saturday.

The remains will be released to the families following post-mortem examinations.

The coffin of Ann McQuire  killed in a gun massacre at a Tunisian beach resort  is taken from the RA...
The coffin of Ann McQuire, killed in a gun massacre at a Tunisian beach resort, is taken from the RAF C-17 at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire on July 2, 2015
Daniel Leal-Olivas, POOL/AFP

Inquests into each of the 30 deaths will be opened to probe the circumstances of each death.

Three Irish nationals, two Germans, one Belgian, one Portuguese and one Russian were also among the dead.

The attack also comes as Britain prepares to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the July 7, 2005 attacks in which four suicide bombers killed 52 people on London's transport network.

Tunisia on Thursday said eight people had been arrested in connection with the massacre carried out by 23-year-old student Seifeddine Rezgui, who gunned down foreign tourists after pulling a Kalashnikov assault rifle from a beach umbrella.

The attack was the second on tourists in Tunisia claimed by IS in three months, after the extremist group said it was behind a March attack on the National Bardo Museum in Tunis that killed 22 people.

Members of the public leave tributes in memory of victims of the Tunisia attacks  before observing a...
Members of the public leave tributes in memory of victims of the Tunisia attacks, before observing a minute's silence outside Walsall football club in central England, on July 3, 2015
Oli Scarff, AFP

Tunisian authorities have said Rezgui received weapons training from jihadists in neighbouring Libya, travelling to the chaos-wracked country at the same time as the two young Tunisians behind the Bardo attack.

In the past four years, dozens of police and soldiers have been killed in Tunisia in clashes and ambushes attributed to jihadists -- mainly in the western Chaambi Mountains.

Disillusionment and social exclusion have fuelled radicalism among young Tunisians, with the country exporting some 3,000 jihadist fighters to Iraq, Syria and Libya.

Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II and Prime Minister David Cameron led a nationwide minute’s silence on Friday, a week after a jihadist gun massacre in Tunisia in which 30 out of the 38 victims were Britons.

Flags flew at half-mast as schools, government offices and the Wimbledon tennis tournament fell silent at midday to honour the victims of the worst terror attack on Britons since the 2005 London bombings.

Employees of travel group TUI, which includes operators Thomson and First Choice that organised the holidays of all of the British victims, stood in silence outside the company’s headquarters.

There was also a ceremony outside Walsall football stadium in central England in tribute to three local men from the same family who died in the tragedy.

Owen Richards  (C) who lost his brother Joel  his uncle Adrian Evans and his grandfather Patrick Eva...

Owen Richards, (C) who lost his brother Joel, his uncle Adrian Evans and his grandfather Patrick Evans in the Tunisia attacks, observes a minute's silence with his mother Suzy Evans (2nd L) outside Walsall football club, on July 3, 2015
Oli Scarff, AFP

The only surviving family member from the holiday, 16-year-old Owen Richards, observed the silence wearing the club’s red shirt and holding his mother’s hand outside the grounds.

The moment of remembrance for the attack claimed by the Islamic State group comes a day after the British government raised the possibility of extending air strikes against IS jihadists from Iraq to Syria.

The queen and her husband Prince Philip joined in the silence during a visit to Strathclyde University in Glasgow, while Cameron marked the moment in his Witney constituency northwest of London.

British Prime Minister David Cameron observes a minute's silence during a visit to a Health Cen...

British Prime Minister David Cameron observes a minute's silence during a visit to a Health Centre in his constituency in Witney, England, on July 3, 2015
Daniel Leal-Olivas, Pool/AFP

The profile picture on the prime minister’s Twitter account was changed to a sign reading “Remember Tunisia” with the first word written in red.

Britain has launched an investigation into the killings and the police said that they had so far taken 275 witness accounts and that more than 1,200 potential witnesses had returned to Britain.

A special ceremony was also held at the scene of the killings on a sunny beach near Sousse, with dozens of officials and tourists in attendance as Tunisia stepped up security at its holiday resorts.

– Wimbledon joins in mourning –

The killings were the worst-ever massacre in Tunisia, which fears massive damage to its tourism industry.

Spectators and staff stand for a minute's silence in memory of the victims of the June 26 Tunis...

Spectators and staff stand for a minute's silence in memory of the victims of the June 26 Tunisia attacks on day five of the 2015 Wimbledon Championships at The All England Tennis Club in Wimbledon, London, July 3, 2015
Leon Neal, AFP

The sector accounts for about seven percent of gross domestic product in a country already suffering from the upheaval that followed the 2011 overthrow of dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.

St Paul’s Cathedral in London joined in the remembrance and the Muslim Council of Britain also urged imams to deliver a sermon of peace at Friday prayers.

At Wimbledon, the start of matches was delayed by 45 minutes to 12:15pm (1115 GMT) to allow spectators and tennis players to take part.

The bodies of 25 of the British victims have now been repatriated on a military transport plane to Royal Air Force base Brize Norton.

Eight were brought back to Britain on Friday and the final five will be returned on Saturday.

The remains will be released to the families following post-mortem examinations.

The coffin of Ann McQuire  killed in a gun massacre at a Tunisian beach resort  is taken from the RA...

The coffin of Ann McQuire, killed in a gun massacre at a Tunisian beach resort, is taken from the RAF C-17 at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire on July 2, 2015
Daniel Leal-Olivas, POOL/AFP

Inquests into each of the 30 deaths will be opened to probe the circumstances of each death.

Three Irish nationals, two Germans, one Belgian, one Portuguese and one Russian were also among the dead.

The attack also comes as Britain prepares to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the July 7, 2005 attacks in which four suicide bombers killed 52 people on London’s transport network.

Tunisia on Thursday said eight people had been arrested in connection with the massacre carried out by 23-year-old student Seifeddine Rezgui, who gunned down foreign tourists after pulling a Kalashnikov assault rifle from a beach umbrella.

The attack was the second on tourists in Tunisia claimed by IS in three months, after the extremist group said it was behind a March attack on the National Bardo Museum in Tunis that killed 22 people.

Members of the public leave tributes in memory of victims of the Tunisia attacks  before observing a...

Members of the public leave tributes in memory of victims of the Tunisia attacks, before observing a minute's silence outside Walsall football club in central England, on July 3, 2015
Oli Scarff, AFP

Tunisian authorities have said Rezgui received weapons training from jihadists in neighbouring Libya, travelling to the chaos-wracked country at the same time as the two young Tunisians behind the Bardo attack.

In the past four years, dozens of police and soldiers have been killed in Tunisia in clashes and ambushes attributed to jihadists — mainly in the western Chaambi Mountains.

Disillusionment and social exclusion have fuelled radicalism among young Tunisians, with the country exporting some 3,000 jihadist fighters to Iraq, Syria and Libya.

AFP
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