PHOTO: Scene of Friday’s attack in Sousse, Tunisia, that killed 39 people

In quick succession on Friday, deadly attacks were reported from Tunisia to Kuwait to France, with the Islamic State suspected in involvement in some or all of the incidents.

TUNISIA

In the coastal town of Sousse, 39 people were killed when a gunman targeted people at point-blank range on the beach and then around a swimming pool, tossing an explosive in addition to his steady fire before he was shot dead by police.

British, German, Irish, and Belgian tourists are among the dead.

An Islamic State faction later claimed responsibility, naming the attacker as Abu Yahya al-Qirawani and saying that he managed to infiltrate the Hotel Riu Imperial Marhaba. The Interior Ministry said the assailant was a student, unknown to authorities and not on any watchlist. Local radio said police captured a second gunman, but officials did not confirm this.

The assault is the worst in Tunisia’s modern history. It follows an attack on March 18 in the Bardo national museum in Tunis which killed 22 visitors.

Habib Essid, Tunisia’s prime minister, said Tunisia plans within a week to close down 80 mosques that remain outside State control, saying that they incite violence.

KUWAIT

At least 25 people were killed and 202 wounded when a suicide bomber struck the Shia Al Imam Al Sadeq mosque in Kuwait City during Friday prayers.

An Islamic State affiliate in Saudi Arabia, Najd Province, claimed the attack, which was the first bombing of a Shia mosque in Kuwait and the first attack in the country since January 2006.

Najd Province said Abu Suleiman Al Muwahhid had bombed the mosque because it is spreading Shia teachings among Sunni Muslims.
The group has claimed similar bombings in Shia mosques in Saudi Arabia in recent weeks.

The mosque’s imam, Abdullah Al Mazeedi, said the bombing targeted the rear rows of worshipers in the congregation of 2,000.

CCTV footage of the attack:

Kuwait’s cabinet went into emergency session as the Interior Ministry raised the alert level and mobilised all security forces.

FRANCE

Near Lyon in the southeast, a van driver rammed his car into an area of a gas factory with flammable liquids.

Yassin Sali also apparently beheaded his boss at the delivery firm. The head was impaled on railings alongside flags containing Arabic inscriptions, with the body some distance away.

Authorities said Sali had never been found guilty of any crime but had been “under surveillance for radical Islamist activities since 2006”.

As investigations were launched, French President Francois Hollande put the country on its highest alert for the next 72 hours.