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At least 28 people have been killed in a terror attack on hotels in a popular Tunisian tourist resort.

Two gunmen opened fire at a beach in the resort of Sousse this morning.

One of the gunmen was killed and police are pursuing the other, interior ministry spokesman Mohammed Ali Aroui said.

Initially tourists thought the noise from the shots were firecrackers, but the resort has been gripped by panic since they realised they were gunshots.

One of the hotels that were attacked is the Imperial Marhaba hotel, local radio stations have said.

A holidaymaker wrote on Twitter: "Actual terrorist attack on the beach next to my hotel. Gunshots and grenades going off all over the place.

(Image: instagram/chervonec)

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"Sat in the pool and hear a noise like a gun, then an explosion then multiple shots and staff getting us back to the rooms."

A British holidaymaker staying in a hotel close to where the incident happened told Sky News: "The beach tends to be full up very quickly so it's the usual story of getting down to lay your towel at half past six to get a decent beach position, so all of the beach positions were taken.

"It's quite a busy beach.

(Image: MouradTeyeb / Twitter)

"There's a lot of people walking up and down, taking in this lovely weather, so it's a very busy beach, but as I said it became apparent very quick that it was something more than firecrackers when you could hear bullets whizzing around."

The city is on holiday operator Thomson's list of prime destinations for Brits and the hotel has air-conditioned rooms, balconies, satellite TV and round-the-clock room service.

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Prime Minister David Cameron has said there will be an emergency COBRA committee meeting this afternoon following the attacks.

Addressing the events while at the European Council, he said: "This is a threat that faces all of us. These events that have taken place today in Tunisia and France can happen anywhere," he says.

"We've got to do all we can to help. That means cooperating on counter-terrorism... and dealing with the threat at source.

(Image: Sky News)

"We have to deal with this poisonous radical narrative that is turning so many young minds.

"The people who do these things sometimes claim they do it in the name of Islam. They don't. Islam is a religion of peace.

"They do it in the name of a twisted and perverted ideology that we have to confront with everything we have."

The Foreign Office has no-go zones for Tunisia but advises British travellers the north-eastern section, where the resort city is, is relatively safe.

Susan Rickett, at the Palm Marina Hotel near Sousse, told Sky: "My sister was talking to someone who had seen some people shooting and had shot someone on a sun bed but we don't know if that's true.

"It sounded like a machine gun going off... and there was a kind of explosion a little bit later.

"They're saying its going on in the hotel next to us. Police were chasing some men, that's all I know."

One tourist who heard an explosion while sunbathing by the pool told Sky News: "We heard people saying there were guns on the beach and people were shooting on the beach. I don't know what's going on.

"I went to reception and they said the police have told us to get everyone inside."

The resort is on the north east coast of the African country and the city's medieval fortress and mosque are a world heritage site.

(Image: instagram/chervonec)

A woman on holiday with her two sons in the resort described how she grabbed her children and ran for their lives when they heard gunfire erupting from one of the hotels.

"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 - because I thought it was fireworks," the Dubliner told RTE Radio.

"So, I thought 'oh my God, it sounds like gunfire', so I just ran to the sea to my children and grabbed our things and as I was running towards the hotel, the waiters and the security on the beach started saying 'run, run run!' and we just ran to our room, which is like a little bungalow.

"So we are actually trapped in our room."

(Image: Google)

Tunisia has been on high alert since March when Islamist militant gunmen attacked the Bardo museum in Tunis.

They killed a group of foreign tourists in one of the worst attacks in a decade in the North African country.

Another Brit who locked himself in his hotel room told Sky: "We were sat by the swimming pool and all of a sudden saw people running towards the hotel.

"The beach is a 2/3minute walk from the hotel. We were half way between the pool and the hotel and heard an explosion.

"We don't know what's going on. We heard people saying there were people shooting on the beach. I don't know Police told us to get inside."

Sousse is a city on the east coast of Tunisia, about 87 miles south of the capital, Tunisa.

Around 1.2 million tourists visit Sousse every year, drawn by the hotels, sandy beaches and culture.

Hotel complexes with 40,000 beds span from the old city to the Port El Kantaoui and the city is home to a Unesco-protected mosque, as well as a historic medina.

Boujaafar Beach stretches from the Gulf of Hammamet several miles north to Port El Kantaoui - a purpose-built resort with dozens of hotels including the El Mouradi Palm Marina, El Mouradi Palace and Riu Imperial Marhaba.