UK plans memorials for victims of Tunisia, overseas attacks

Prime Minister David Cameron today said two permanent memorials will be built for the UK victims of terror, hours after coffins carrying the final five bodies out of 30 Britons killed in the recent Tunisia attack arrived. While one memorial will honour the UK nationals who died in the Tunisia attack, the second will commemorate Britons killed in other terror attacks overseas. Families of the victims of the attack in Sousse will be consulted on where their memorial would be.

A service will also be held later this year dedicated to those caught up in the attack which killed a total of 38 people. A Tunisian identified as 23-year-old Seifeddine Rezgui pulled a Kalashnikov from inside a furled beach umbrella and went on a shooting spree outside a five-star hotel on June 26. "Those who lost their lives in Tunisia last week were innocent victims of a brutal terrorist atrocity," Cameron said.

"It is right that we mark and commemorate them and others murdered by terrorists overseas appropriately and support the loved ones they have left behind in every way we can," he said. UK Foreign Office minister Tobias Ellwood said the memorial could be in the north of Britain, where many of the victims were from. 

Ellwood, who lost his brother Jonathan in the 2002 Bali bombing, has long campaigned for a single memorial to all victims of terror overseas. Yesterday, the final five bodies of British victims were returned to the UK.