Security stepped up at UK tourist destinations and events such as Wimbledon in wake of terror attacks in Tunisia, France and Kuwait

At least 15 Britons are now known to be among the 39 tourists killed in the brutal Tunisian beachside massacre on Friday. And the families of seven tourists still missing faced an agonising wait for news after the worst terrorist outrage to hit Britons since the London attacks in July 2005.

“We fear more sad news is to come,” said a Downing Street source. The Observer understands that seven British holidaymakers who were caught up in the attack are in a critical condition in hospital: two are in a coma, and a further three are in intensive care. The condition of 26 other injured people – of other nationalities – was unclear.

The gunman, Tunisian Seifeddine Rezgui, was shot dead by police after his 20-minute shooting spree on Friday. As security was being ramped up at tourist sites and public places across Britain after Friday’s day of bloodshed, in which 60 people died in three attacks across three continents, the first among the victims of the Tunisian shootings were named.

They were 24-year-old photographer Carly Lovett from Lincolnshire; Adrian Evans, 49, who worked for Sandwell council in the West Midlands; his nephew, Joel Richards, 19, who played for Birmingam-based Gaelic football team James Connollys GFC; Irish nurse Lorna Carty, from County Meath; and Lana Lemaire, a Ukrainian who lived in Belgium. Lovett, a beauty and fashion blogger and graduate of the University of Lincolnshire, had travelled to Tunisia on Wednesday with her fiancé, Liam Moore. Expressing their shock, her friends talked of how excited she had been about the trip. One, Dave Overton, said she was a “friendly but also a tough character with a sensible and practical outlook on life”.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Carly Lovett, in a photograph taken from her blog. Photograph: Instagram

A statement from Birmingham County FA, where Richards was a member of the youth council, said: “A young, talented referee with the world at his feet, Joel was highly thought of and will be sadly missed. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends at this tragic time.”

David Cameron warned the public to be prepared for a rising British death toll. Meanwhile, there was frustration and criticism directed at British Foreign Office officials for being too slow, and “rude and ignorant” towards worried relatives, some of whom took to social media to post pictures of their loved ones. Conor Fulford, from Staffordshire, was trying to find his mother, Sue Davey. He tweeted photographs of her with the hashtag #FindSueDavey.

He criticised the information being given by the Foreign Office: “They just said if they find any leads, they will let us know. I’m at a loss for words at the minute.”

Fulford later confirmed his mother was among the victims. He tweeted: “Hi Everyone, Sorry to tell you we lost my mother Sue Davey tonight but i want to thank everybody that tried to help me & my family”.





Conor Fulford (@ConorFulford) Love you always Mom, I've got my teddy bear you got me tonight, Rest easy xxxx

A cohort of Scotland Yard counter-terrorism officers and consular staff were sent out to the scene of Friday’s beach massacre as travel agents scrambled to lay on extra flights and on Saturday airlifted 2,500 UK holidaymakers out of the north African country.

The Tunisian prime minister, Habib Essid, said that the majority of the dead were British and deplored the attack at the Riu Imperial Marhaba Hotel, where Rezgui, a 23-year-old engineering student, shot his victims with a Kalashnikov rifle he had hidden in a parasol. It was one of three attacks on Friday by gunmen linked to Islamic State.

In Kuwait, a mass funeral was held for the 27 men and boys killed on Friday as they knelt in prayer at a mosque and the Gulf state’s government called for a day of national mourning. The suicide bombing of the Shia mosque in the capital, Kuwait City, left 227 people injured.

In France a man was decapitated in an attack at a factory in Lyon. Yassin Sali, 35, caused an explosion by ramming a car into an area where fuel canisters were being stored but was arrested at the scene.

On Tuesday, an Isis spokesman had called for militants to cause “calamity for infidels” and to step up attacks during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. David Cameron on Saturday insisted, however, that there was no intelligence to suggest the attacks were deliberately linked.

Cameron, speaking after Saturday’s Cobra emergency committee meeting, repeated warnings that Britain was facing a long-term threat and promised to make a statement in the Commons on Monday to update MPs on the government’s security plans as events developed in Tunisia and elsewhere. He also warned that the public faced “a very severe threat in our country and we have done for many months and many years”.

The UK’s threat level for international terrorism is currently “severe”, meaning an attack is highly likely, and has been since last August in response to conflicts in Iraq and Syria. It is one level below “critical” when an attack is believed “imminent”.

Announcing heightened security at major events, including Armed Forces Day and Wimbledon, which starts on Monday, Cameron said: “If we work together, if we are vigilant, if we back our police and anti-terrorism forces, if we combat this poisonous narrative of Islamist extremism that is radicalising too many young minds in our country; if we do all those things and show the persistence and the determination that I have talked about, then we will overcome.”

Police seized a drone hovering over Wimbledon’s tennis courts as part of a concerted tightening of security as Scotland Yard’s most senior anti-terror official announced police were looking to “strengthen the protection and security of key sites, business and public places around the UK”.

Tunisia’s prime minister has ordered a clampdown on radical mosques in the aftermath of Friday’s attack. Police will close about 80 mosques associated by authorities with radical preachers within a week, with Essid saying they were spreading “venom”.

Thousands of tourists are joining what is threatening to be a mass exodus from the country, one of north Africa’s prime tourist destinations. An estimated 20,000 British tourists are in Tunisia, and many are clamouring to be brought home.

The Foreign Office updated its travel advice, warning against visits to areas of the country in the south and west, with its website saying there is a high threat from terrorism, including kidnapping. Attacks could be indiscriminate, including in places visited by foreigners.