A massive manhunt is underway in Tunisia after two gunmen attacked a tourist resort and killed at least 27 – just hours after authorities in France were scrambling to deal with a deadly terrorist assault of their own.
Tunisia's interior minister warned the death toll could rise.
The gunmen struck the popular Hotel Riu Imperial Marhaba, located in Sousse on the Mediterranean coastline, attacking several as they sunbathed in chairs near the ocean waters. The hotel is located about 90 miles from the capital city of Tunis.
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The Express reported one gunman was killed in a shootout with law enforcement agents. A dozen or so others – both attackers and police – were reportedly killed, too.
Fox News reported 27 tourists and hotel visitors have been confirmed dead, the Express said. The gunman is still on the run.
One tourist, Susan Rifkinds, told the newspaper "everybody started running in and screaming" after hearing the gunfire.
"It sounded like a machine gun going off," she said. "There was an explosion a little later.
The terror attack comes on the heels of another in France, also Friday, at the Air Products chemical factory in the southeastern portion of the country. There, attackers left the beheaded body of a victim on the company grounds, and mounted his head on a fence outside the building. French authorities have already deemed the incident a terrorist attack and say one suspect was killed and another arrested. The arrested suspect reportedly claimed affiliation with ISIS.
It's not clear if the Tunisia attack is tied to ISIS or radical Islamism. But back in March, 23 people were killed by terrorists who opened fire at the Bardo Museum in Tunis. ISIS terrorists said after the attack: Abu Zakariya al-Tunisi and Abu Anas al-Tunisi used "automatic weapons and hand grenades" to kill and wound what they termed "crusaders and apostates," various media reported.
Elizabeth O'Brien, an Irish woman who took her two sons to the resort for vacation, told RTE Radio she heard gunfire and then saw people running.
"We were on the beach; my sons were in the sea and I just got out of the sea. It was about 12 o’clock and I just looked up about 500 metres from me and I saw a [hot air] balloon collapse down, then rapid firing, then I saw two of the people who were going to go up in the balloon start to run towards me," she said, the Guardian reported.
Another tourist from Britain told Sky News he heard what "we thought was firecrackers going off," and then an explosion.
"There was a mass exodus off the beach," he said.
Also Friday, a Shiite mosque in Kuwait was bombed by terrorists, leaving several dead.