At least 39 people, mostly foreigners, have been killed and 36 injured in an attack on a beach in the Tunisian resort town of Sousse, according to the health ministry.

Video footage showed the body of a suspected gunman lying in a street.

Tunisians, Britons, Germans and Belgians and at least one Irish citizen are among the dead.

In March militants killed 22 people, mainly foreign tourists, in an attack on a museum in the capital Tunis.

At least five Britons are confirmed dead, UK Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said, adding: “We must expect more reports of fatalities”.

Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi has gone to Sousse hospital to visit the injured and promised “painful but necessary measures” in the wake of the attack.