A pair of gunmen killed at least 28 people and injured around 36 others Friday in an attack on a beach in Sousse, Tunisia, according to CNN. Many of the affected were guests staying at two nearby hotels.
The gunmen opened fire on the beach between the Soviva Resort and Hotel Riu Imperial Marhaba before security forces responded, killing one of the attackers, said Tunisia's Interior Ministry spokesman Mohammed Ali Arou, reported CBC News. The other attacker fled the scene.
No details about the nationalities of the victims were given, but during the holy month of Ramadan, the local population is less likely to go to the beach and, therefore, those there would have been mostly foreign tourists.
"There was a mass exodus off the beach," British tourist Gary Pine told Sky News, adding that his son saw someone get shot. Pine stated that, initially, guests were told to lock themselves in their rooms and later to gather in the lobby.
Tunisia has been on high alert since March when two gunmen attacked the national museum in Tunis, killing at least 22 people (all but one were tourists), according to the Guardian. A group pledging allegiance to the radical Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack and promised more, leading to the possibility that Friday's attacks might be related.
Since overthrowing its secular dictator in 2011, Tunisia has been plagued by terrorists attacks, however, it was only recently that they targeted the tourism sector.
