Eight people are in custody in Tunisia suspected of having direct links to a deadly beach attack that killed 38 people

Eight people are in custody in Tunisia, suspected of having direct links to a deadly beach attack that killed 38 people, but four other possible suspects have been released, a minister said yesterday.

The attack was Tunisia's deadliest ever and threatens to be a devastating blow to its tourism sector.

The Isil extremist group claimed responsibility for the attack, in which Tunisian student Seifeddine Rezgui opened fire on a beach in the resort of Sousse. He was later killed by police.

Government minister Kamel Jendoubi told reporters yesterday in Tunis the eight still detained - seven men and one woman - were suspected of direct links to the attack.

He did not elaborate on their identities or roles, saying only that the investigation "has allowed us to discover the network behind the operation in Sousse".

The minister also urged greater international terrorism cooperation in a "war ... between democratic Tunisia and an international jihadi movement".

Sofiane Selliki, an official in the prosecutor's office, said no one had been brought before a judge for charges.

A top security official said this week that Rezgui had trained in a jihadi camp in Libya at the same time as the two men who attacked a leading Tunisian museum in March, killing 22 people.

That raised fears of more attacks on the North African nation's budding democracy.

More Tunisians - about 3,000 - are believed to have gone to Syria and Iraq to join radical jihadis including the Isil group than fighters from any other country.

Irish Independent