UK police believe two deadly shootings in Tunisia -- one in March at the Bardo Museum in Tunisand another in June at a beachfront hotel in Sousse -- are connected, a senior Metropolitan Police officer said Wednesday.
The attack in the resort of Sousse on June 26 killed 38 people, the majority of them British tourists.
In the Bardo attack, 22 people -- also mostly foreign tourists -- were killed.
Tunisian authorities have so far arrested around 150 people, of whom 15 have been charged with terrorist-related offenses, said Cmdr. Richard Walton, head of the Met's Counter Terrorism Command.
"While I cannot go into further details regarding this live investigation, I can confirm that a team of officers, led by a senior detective from the Met's Counter Terrorism Command, are working closely with the Tunisian authorities on both investigations and we have advised the coroner of the connection between the two," he said.
They say Al Rezgui, 24, trained with the people who carried out the attack on the Bardo Museum.
The Met Police said in a statement that a purported second gunman wearing red shorts -- referred to by some witnesses and reported on in the media -- is believed at this stage to be "a member of beach security who attempted to stop the attacker."
It added, "The investigators retain an open mind on this issue and will continue to follow up leads to clarify how many gunmen and weapons were used."
Since the Sousse attack, UK officers have taken more than 450 statements from witnesses and are examining more than 370 photographic and video files taken by witnesses on mobile devices, the Met Police said.
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