Gunmen kill 37 in Tunisia as Al-Shabab attacks AU base in Somalia

Gunmen on Friday attacked Riu Imperial Marhaba, a 5-star beach front hotel (pictured) and the El Mouradi Palm Marina, also a hotel, in the Sousse town of Tunisia, killing at least 37 people.

The attack happened just as the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) confirmed that the militant group al-Shabab, struck at its base in Mogadishu, capital of Somalia.

Suspected ISIS militants opened fire on foreign tourists who were relaxing in the hotels.

The police reportedly engaged them in a fierce gun battle, resulting into panic as some of the guests scuttled to safety.

“Just one gunman has so far been killed. Many bodies are said to be lying on the beach. Most of the people killed are believed to be foreigners as the hotel is said to be popular amongst European holiday makers,” a witness told BBC.

Tunisia’s interior ministry spokesman, Mohammed Ali Aroui, described the victims as mostly tourists but did not give any nationalities.

AP quoted local radio as saying most of those killed were Germans and British.

This is the second armed assault on a Tunisian tourist destination in a matter of months.

In March gunmen killed more than 20 people in an attack on the Bardo Museum, in Tunis, capital of the country.

Meanwhile, AMISOM said the affected base is manned by Burundian soldiers who are part of Somalia’s 22,000 strong mission.

A local official told the AP that fighters attacked the base entrance with a suicide car bomb at the start of the assault.

Witnesses said the fighters used machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades.

“They managed to infiltrate the entrance after the blast. It was a complex attack,” said Mohammed Haji, an official in the Lower Shabelle region, saying that many people were believed to have died in the attack.

There was no immediate confirmation of casualties, but an al- Shabab spokesman claimed the group had taken control of the base, killing “dozens”, and had raised its flag and seized weapons.

In France, attackers stormed an American-owned industrial chemical plant in the city of Lyon, decapitated one person and tried unsuccessfully to blow up the factory, in what French authorities said was a terrorist attack

Reports say Islamist flags and Arabic writings were found at the scene, raising suspicion that an extremist group was behind the attack.

In all, four different attacks have been recorded within few hours in different parts of the world.