Tunisia massacre gunman was inspired by fanatic running global terror cell in London + Pics

Links between the Tunisia beach massacre and Islamist extremism in Britain can be revealed today.

The fanatic who inspired gunman Seifeddine Rezgui ran a global terror network from London, a Daily Mail investigation has found.

The mentor – Saifallah Ben Hassine – was himself a disciple of hate preacher Abu Qatada, then also based in the UK. 

The dramatic revelation came as:

• Survivors of the attack that cost as many as 30 British lives insisted they saw a second gunman;
• Police and the Army prepared for Britain’s biggest ever counter-terrorism training exercise in London today;
• Theresa May laid flowers at the scene of the ‘brutality and destruction’;
• A significant number of Rezgui’s alleged accomplices were arrested;
• It emerged that the mass murderer had terrorist training in Libya;
• David Cameron announced a national minute’s silence for noon on Friday and hinted at bombing raids in Syria.

Security officials are investigating whether there are direct links between Rezgui and terrorists based in Britain.

But the Mail has discovered that the group said to have indoctrinated Rezgui in Tunisia over the past six months is led by Ben Hassine. 

And these extremists can be traced straight back to the so-called ‘Londonistan’ years leading up to 9/11. 

Ben Hassine, 49, arrived in Britain in the late 1990s and quickly became a follower of Qatada, who had fled Jordan.

Court papers state Ben Hassine used London as his base for founding and running the ‘Tunisian Fighting Group’ from 2000 onwards. 

It is not known if he claimed asylum but he was in the UK for at least three years.

The terror network had links to Al Qaeda and, according to the papers, ‘aimed to recruit new members and send them to Afghanistan for training’.

The documents add that: ‘Abu Qatada appears as a watermark running through the whole of this case as being the mastermind.’

Ben Hassine later left Britain and by 2011 had established Ansar al-Sharia, the main terror group in Tunisia.

He has remained close to Qatada, who was deported from Britain in 2013 after a prolonged legal fight.

In January last year, Qatada wrote in a letter published online that Ben Hassine ‘is among the best of those I have known in intellect’ and ‘the most knowledgeable of people of my intentions … for he was the closest of people to me’.

Rezgui’s family say he was brainwashed while studying for a master’s degree in Kairouan, 35 miles inland from Sousse, the resort where he killed 38.

The town is the hub for Ben Hassine’s Ansar al-Sharia group. The leader of Kairouan’s great mosque named Ansar al-Sharia as among the most likely groups to have groomed Rezgui.

The terror organization, which was behind a suicide attack at another beach resort in Sousse two years ago, is seen as the Tunisian wing of the so-called Islamic State.

Mr Cameron said yesterday: ‘While we believe (Rezgui) was the sole gunman, it is thought that he may have been part of an ISIS-inspired network.

‘The Tunisian security forces are investigating possible accomplices who may have supported this sickening attack.’

Some 3,000 fake jihadi fighters have joined ISIS from Tunisia – more than from any other country.

The revelations are the latest example of how extremism was allowed to flourish under the noses of the British authorities at the turn of the century – with a Who’s Who of fanatics and terrorists living here.

Hundreds of extremists from the Middle East and North Africa used the capital – dubbed Londonistan by exasperated French security officials – to plot the downfall of governments in countries such as Egypt, Yemen and Algeria.

Some of the groups had ties to Qatada and were often affiliates of Al Qaeda.

But the police and security services effectively turned a blind eye to their activities.

It was only after 9/11 that officials began rounding up the ringleaders and trying to either deport them or subject them to control orders.

Qatada’s disciples also included Djamel Beghal – the man who is said to have radicalized Charlie Hebdo terrorists Amedy Coulibaly and Chérif Kouachi.

Ben Hassine, who is also known as Abu Iyad al Tunisi, has been linked to Hani al-Siba’i, a radical preacher who lives in West London with his wife and four children.

Al-Siba’i is said to have inspired ISIS executioner Mohammed Emwazi, known as Jihadi John.

Mr Cameron yesterday described the ‘existential threat’ posed by ISIS as ‘the struggle of our generation’.

Home Secretary Mrs May travelled to Tunisia where she laid flowers and observed a period of silence at the scene of the attack.

She said: ‘How could a place of such beauty, of relaxation and happiness, be turned into such a scene of brutality and destruction?’

Ministers insisted the Foreign Office was working as fast as it could to identify the victims.

Tunisia gunman Seifeddine Rezgui