Seifeddine Rezgui, the cold blooded Tunisian gunman, who massacred 39 tourists used to attend radical mosques before signing up for ISIS.
Just 24 hours before he gunned down people on the beach in Sousse, Rezgui had spent time with his uncle and talked about life and studies.
The 32-year-old was an engineering student who lived in in Gaafour, a poor area of Tunisia’s Saliana province. His distraught uncle says that the killer was a 'sweet boy' as a child. His uncle, Ali Bin Muhammad Rezgui said, “He was a sweet boy when he was younger. He was a break-dancer and loved football. He should have had a long, happy life.” He added that he did not have any idea what Seifeddine was planning.
Meanwhile, according to a Tunisian Interior Ministry source, Rezgui did not have a criminal record, he was known to authorities for ‘low level radicalism’ and was once stopped by police for smoking cannabis. The authorities have also arrested his parents in a raid on his family home in Gaafour.
The source confirmed that Rezgui was an active member of a radical group called Islamic Youth and would go to mosques controlled by radical preachers and then started working for ISIS.
The website for Islamic state has posted a picture of him with two assault rifles either side of him, and referred to Rezgui’s jihadi name, Abu Yahya al-Qayrawani, while describing him as ‘Our brother, the soldier of the Caliphate’.
ISIS extremists have claimed the massacre which left 38 dead was an 'attack upon the nests of fornication, vice and disbelief in God' - as they warned 'worse is to follow'.
It is yet to be confirmed whether this definitely is the same man who murdered 38 tourists staying at a hotel in Sousse, Tunisia.
Tunisian Prime Minister Habib Essid said Rezgui was not previously known by authorities, and came from the town of Gaafour in the governorate of Siliana and had been a student at Kairouan University.
A second gunman is reported to have escaped, but details remain unclear.
Eyewitness accounts say Rezgui was seen laughing and joking among the midday bathers and sun seekers, looking like any other tourist.
But it was claimed he was carefully selecting the victims he would murder with a Kalashnikov hidden under an umbrella.
“He was laughing and joking around, like a normal guy,” said one witness. “He was choosing who to shoot. Some people, he was saying to them 'you go away'. He was choosing tourists, British, French.”
Meanwhile, images have surfaced of his apartment. The flat is dirty, covered with rubbish, with a knife and fork still on the dinner table. The camera also shows his fridge and its contents – two small potatoes and several chilli peppers.
Rezgui appears to have been a keen user of social media, and in the Facebook page which is believed to be his, shows posts about rap music, Real Madrid and the Tunisia's chances in the Africa Cup. Also, there are several posts and propaganda videos of ISIS.
Interestingly, most of his radical posts appear to have started only early last year. His last post was six months back on New Year 2015, and read: "May God take me out of this unjust world and perish its people and make them suffer. They just remember you when they die."
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