Prince Harry is to attend a Service of Commemoration at Westminster Abbey later today, to remember the victims of the two terrorist attacks in Tunisia in 2015. The Prince, attending on behalf of The Queen, will join the family members of those who lost loved ones, who were injured or who witnessed the attacks.
60 people, including 31 British citizens, were killed in the attacks on the 18 March and 26 June 2015. The attacks remain the worst incident of terrorism responsible for taking British lives since the 7/7 bombings on London in 2005. On 18 March, a group of terrorists opened fire at the Bardo National Museum in Tunis. 22 people, among them one British woman, were killed.
The second attack, on 26 June, saw a terrorist open fire on a beach in the resort of Port El Kantaoui, a few kilometres from the city of Sousse. The gunman went on a shooting rampage, killing tourists on the beach and in the Imperial Marhaba Hotel, before being shot dead by Tunisian security forces. The terrorist group ISIS later claimed responsibility for the attack. In all, 38 people were killed, 30 of whom were British citizens and 39 others were wounded.
A personal account from a woman on the beach at the time, said, “I honestly thought it was fireworks and then when I saw people running… I thought, my God, it is shooting. The waiters and the security on the beach started to say ‘Run, run, run!'”
Before today’s Service, Prince Harry will lay a wreath at the Innocent Victims Memorial before joining the Dean of Westminster and the congregation inside the Abbey. The Prince is expected to deliver a reading during the service.
Harry, who has often paid tribute to those killed in combat, is also expected to meet and speak to some of the family members at the private service to pass on his tributes personally.
