Tunisia massacre gunman identified

Seifeddine Rezgui from the Siliana region was a student at the University of Kairouan

The gunman killed by police after the Tunisian attack which killed at least 38 people was not previously known to the authorities, according to the country’s prime minister.

Habib Essid said Seifeddine Rezgui came from the town of Gaafour in the Siliana region and had been a student at the University of Kairouan.

According to reports he was 23-years-old and studying aviation.

Mr Essid added that Rezgui had never travelled abroad.

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The Site Intelligence Group reported that extremist organisation Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack and identified the gunman by his jihadi pseudonym Abu Yahya al-Qayrawani.

Briton Tom Richards, a 22-year-old graduate who was caught up in the attack, told the Guardian: "He was maybe 20 or 25, he had long black hair and a beard."

Photographs taken after the attack appeared to show Rezgui’s body.

He was in bare feet and wore a dark T-shirt and shorts.

Six nationalities are among the dead including Irish woman Lorna Carty from Robinstown, Co Meath. It is not clear how many Irish nationals are in the country or if others may have been injured in the attack.