At least 28 dead after tourist hotels in Tunisia's Sousse attacked

Gunmen have attacked tourist hotels in the Tunisian town of Sousse - which is popular with British holidaymakers - killing at least 28 people.

WHAT WE KNOW SO FAR

Deadly attack on tourist hotel in Tunisia
At least 28 killed, including foreigners, officials say
One gunman shot dead
Two hotels in resort of Sousse reportedly attacked

TUNISIA DEATH TOLL RISES

THE death toll from a shooting at a beach resort in Tunisia has risen to 28, with 36 others wounded.

THE Interior Ministry had previously said 27 people died and six were wounded after gunmen attacked the resort town Friday.

The Health Ministry said the dead include Tunisians, Brits, Germans and Belgians.

A 16-year-old English boy has reportedly survived the attack after seeing his parents and grandmother killed in front of him.

He was being treated for his injuries in hospital, according to a report by a Tunisian radio station.

Matthew James, from Nottingham UK, is fighting for his life after being shot four times in the stomach, The Daily Mail UK reported.

GUNMEN ATTACK HOTELS

At least 28 people, including foreign tourists, were killed when at least one gunman opened fire on a Tunisian beachside hotel in the popular resort of Sousse on Friday, an interior ministry spokesman said.

Police were still clearing the area around the Imperial Marhaba hotel and the body of one gunman lay at the scene with a Kalashnikov assault rifle after he was shot in an exchange of gunfire, a security source at the scene said.

It was the second major attack in the North African country this year, and took place during the holy Muslim month of Ramadan.

"One attacker opened fire with a Kalashnikov on tourists and Tunisians on the beach of the hotel," said a hotel worker at the site. "It was just one attacker. He was a young guy dressed in shorts like he was a tourist himself."

Tunisia, which has been hailed as a model of democratic transition since its 2011 'Arab Spring' uprising, is one of the most secular countries in the Arab world. Its beach resorts and nightclubs on the Mediterranean are popular with European visitors.

No one immediately claimed the attack. But Islamist jihadists have attacked North African tourist sites before, seeing them as legitimate targets because of their open Western lifestyles and tolerance of alcohol.

Six other people were wounded, the ministry spokesman said.

Irishwoman Elizabeth O'Brien, who was staying at a neighboring hotel with her two sons, said there was panic on the beach when gunfire erupted.

"I honestly thought it was fireworks and then when I saw people running... I thought, my God, it is shooting," she told Irish radio station RTE. "The waiters and the security on the beach started to say 'Run, run, run!'"

Sousse is one of Tunisia's most popular beach resorts, drawing visitors from Europe and neighboring North African countries. Tourism is also a major source of income for the government.

Tunisia has been on high alert since March, when Islamist militant gunmen attacked the Bardo museum in Tunis, killing a group of foreign tourists in one of the worst attacks in a decade in the North African country.

Since its 2011 uprising to oust autocrat Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, Tunisia has been praised for its peaceful democratic transition. But it has also seen the rise of hardline conservative Islamist movements.

Several thousand Tunisian jihadists have left to fight in Syria, Iraq and neighboring Libya, where some have set up jihadist training camps and promised to return to attack their homeland.

(Reporting by Tarek Amara; writing by Patrick Markey; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)