Witnesses described scenes of panic and confusion after the shooting at a hotel in a district of Sousse, about 140 kilometres (87 miles) south of Tunis. An armed man “entered through the back of the hotel and opened fire”, said interior ministry spokesman Mohamed Ali <g data-gr-id="24">Aroui</g>. The toll is “27 dead including tourists”, he said.
A dozen more people were reported to have been hospitalised. “It was a terrorist attack” targeting the Marhaba Hotel in the Port El Kantaoui district, <g data-gr-id="20">Aroui</g> said. “The assailant was killed,” he added, without ruling out the possibility that there was more than one attacker.
The shooting came just months after a March attack on the Bardo National Museum in Tunis left 21 foreign tourists dead. Gary Pine, a British holidaymaker, said the shooting happened at around midday when the beach was thronged with tourists. “We saw what we thought was firecrackers going off, so we thought someone was celebrating.” he said.