Tunisia: 12 people detained in hotel attack probe

38 people were killed in a massacre at a beach resort

About 12 people have been detained in the investigation into a massacre at a beach resort that killed 38 people, mostly British tourists, a Tunisian official said.

Tunisia's Radio Mosaique today reported that Lazhar Akremi, a senior official with the ruling Nida Tounes party, made the announcement at a party meeting. The report did not elaborate on when or where the arrests occurred.

The Tunisian government is holding a news conference in the capital Tunis about the investigation. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for Friday's attack, in which Tunisian student Seifeddine Rezgui opened fire on a beach in the resort of Sousse. The attacker was later killed by police.

Investigators are searching nationwide for accomplices. A person close to the investigation said that seven people had been detained in the probe.

At least 27 Britons and other European tourists are confirmed among the dead.

A top security official told the AP this week that the student had trained in a jihadi camp in Libya at the same time as the two men who attacked a leading Tunisian museum in March. That enforced the notion of a link between the two assaults and raised fears of more attacks on this North African nation's budding democracy.

The attack was Tunisia's deadliest ever, and threatened to be a devastating blow to the country's tourism sector, which is crucial to the economy and had just started recovering after uncertainty following Arab Spring uprisings.