United Kingdom: British Tourists Urged To Leave Tunisia

British holidaymakers landing in the UK after being evacuated from Tunisia have accused the British government of 'giving in to terrorists', claiming they feel safer in the North African country than on home soil.

The first of thousands of British holidaymakers have returned home from Tunisia after the Foreign Office called for Britons to leave the country where 38 tourists were shot dead two weeks ago, saying another ISIS attack is now 'highly likely'.

Thirty Britons were killed in the gun attack at a beach near Sousse last month - and the Foreign Office has now urged Britons to leave.

The move drew criticism from tourists - and from Tunisia, which said it had done all it could to protect people.

But the UK foreign secretary said it was "too big a risk" not to act.

Philip Hammond said the UK hoped to downgrade its travel guidance "in the not too distant future".

Ireland, where three of the victims were from, has also warned against "all non-essential travel" to the country. Denmark followed suit but Germany and France have not altered their advice.

'Emerging threat'

Between 2,500 and 3,000 British package holidaymakers are believed to be in Tunisia, as well as about 500 independent travellers.

The Association of British Travel Agents (Abta) said its members were aiming to bring customers home in the next 48 hours.

The first British tourists arrived at Manchester Airport shortly after 13:00 BST.

The UK government had stressed there was no new "specific or imminent" threat, but intelligence had led officials to the view that a further attack was "highly likely".

Mr Hammond said the government had been careful not to act in a "knee-jerk manner".

"We now have a much better picture of the emerging scale of the threat as well as a much better understanding of the mitigations the Tunisians have put in place," he said.

Mr Hammond said Tunisian authorities were continuing to hunt individuals suspected of having links to the Sousse attack and an attack in March on the Bardo Museum near Tunis, which left 22 dead, including one Briton.

BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner said counter-terror experts, along with Tunisian authorities, had concluded "that the country faces a very serious threat from an only partially-dismantled terror cell".

He said this means Seifeddine Rezgui had accomplices were still "at large" and they "have probably got access to automatic weapons" and "could quite possibly be looking for new Western targets".

The UK warning comes as the funeral of two victims of the attack - Jim and Anne McQuire, from Cumbernauld - took place in their home town.

The Tunisian prime minister said the country had done "everything we can to protect (British) citizens and their interests, as well as those of all other countries".

Habib Essid said the government would help people leave, but he planned to speak to his British counterpart David Cameron about the change in travel advice.