TUNIS // At least 27 people have been killed in the Tunisian resort city of Sousse after two gunmen opened fire at a beach near two hotels on Friday.
Security forces intervened immediately and killed one of the attackers, while the other fled the scene, the interior ministry spokesman Mohammed Ali Aroui said.
Sousse, about 150 kilometres from Tunis, is a popular resort for both Tunisians and Europeans.
Mr Aroui described the victims as mostly tourists but did not give any nationalities. Local radio has said those killed were mostly German and British.
Gary Pine, a British tourist who was on the beach close to the scene of the attack, said he heard what “we thought was firecrackers going off” 100 metres away, followed by an explosion from the next hotel complex along.
“There was a mass exodus off the beach,” he told Sky News. His son told he him he had seen someone get shot on the beach.
Guests at his hotel were first told to lock themselves in their rooms, and later to gather in the lobby, Mr Pine said.
In March assailants dressed as soldiers attacked the Bardo Museum in Tunis, taking hostages. Citizens of Poland, Italy and Germany were among at least 17 tourists who died.
At least 3,000 Tunisians are estimated to have left their homes to become one of the largest groups of foreign fighters in territories held by ISIL. That radicalisation now poses a threat to a country that sought to be a beacon of social and economic stability in the turbulent Arab world.
* Agencies
