Dozens killed in terrorist attacks on 3 continents

Suspected Islamic militants on Friday killed at least 28 people at a Tunisian seaside resort and 25 worshippers at a Shi’ite Muslim mosque in Kuwait, and decapitated a man at a U.S. gas company in France. The attacks occurred during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, but it was unclear if they were coordinated.

The White House condemned attacks on Friday as “heinous” acts of terrorism and said it was working with those countries to offer any necessary support.

“The United States condemns in the strongest terms the terrorist attacks in France, Kuwait, and Tunisia today,” it said in a statement. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims of these heinous attacks, their loved ones, and the people of all three countries.”

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon strongly condemned the attacks, called for justice and said the world body’s commitment to fight extremism had only been strengthened.

“Far from weakening the international community’s resolve to fight the scourge of terrorism, these heinous attacks will only strengthen the commitment of the United Nations to help defeat those bent on murder, destruction and the annihilation of human development and culture,” U.N. spokesman Farhan Haq said.

KUWAIT

An apparent bomb blast tore through a mosque in Kuwait’s capital during Friday prayers, killing 25 people and injuring more than 200 worshippers, state media reported.

ISIS claimed responsibility for what it called a suicide bombing at the Shiite-affiliated Al-Sadiq mosque. The group put the number of dead and injured in the dozens.

The country’s Justice and Islamic Affairs minister, Yaqoub Al-Sanea, called the attack “a terrorist and criminal act that threatens our security and targets our national unity,” the news agency said.

TUNISIA

Gunmen killed at least 28 people at a beachfront Tunisian hotel on Friday, the same day terrorists lashed out brutally in France and bombed a mosque in Kuwait.

Tunisia’s health ministry reported those deaths as well as 36 injuries in and around the Hotel Riu Imperial Marhaba in the coastal Tunisian city of Sousse. At least one gunman was also reportedly killed, according to the state-run TAP news agency.

On its website, Hotel Riu Imperial Marhaba is described as an all-inclusive hotel with views of Port El Kantaoui. It contains indoor and outdoor pools, including one for children, as well as buffet-style and theme restaurants.

The full extent of the horror there, including who died and how, was still not known as of Friday afternoon.

FRANCE

One person has been beheaded and two people injured in a terrorist attack at a gas factory near Lyon in southeastern France, French President Francois Hollande said Friday.

The suspect’s contacts with Muslim fundamentalists, and reports that Islamist flags or writings were found at the scene, point to an Islamist extremist motive.

n a televised address from a summit in Brussels, Belgium, Hollande called the French incident a “pure terrorist attack.”

Hollande said a body had been found, along with a severed head with a message. A suspect has been arrested and identified, he said.

The victim of what Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve described as a “barbarous” attack has not yet been publicly identified. U.S. firm Air Products & Chemicals, which owns the factory, said all its employees were accounted for.