AKIPRESS.COM - Tunisia has arrested a group of people over the massacre of 38 people, mainly tourists, by a gunman at the beach resort of Sousse on Friday, the country's interior minister has said.

Mohamed Gharsalli said 1,000 troops would now be deployed to protect the country's beach resorts.

Three European ministers have laid flowers at the scene of the attack in a sign of solidarity.

Islamic State (IS) has said it was behind the attack.

Gunman Seifeddine Rezgui, the Tunisian student who carried out Friday's attack, was the only attacker, but he had accomplices who provided him with weapons and logistical support, reports AP news agency.

Seifeddine Rezgui pulled a Kalashnikov from a parasol and opened fire on the beach, sending holidaymakers fleeing for their lives. He threw explosives at the pool area before continuing inside the Imperial Marhaba hotel.

Rezgui was not previously known to the security services. But Islamic State (IS), which said it was behind the attack, referred to him by a nom de guerre - Abu Yahya al-Qayrawani.

Unlike many Tunisian radicals, he is not believed to have gone to Syria or Iraq to join militants fighting there.