Tunisia hotel attack: Isis releases picture and names killer of the 38 tourists in Sousse

Islamic State has released a picture of the man they say carried out yesterday's massacre in Tunisia. Isis social media accounts have been sharing a

IS social media accounts have been sharing a photograph of a man named as Abu Yahya Qayrawani, who the organisation claims is the person who shot and killed 38 tourists.

It is believed that Abu Yahya Qayrawani could be a pseudonym for Seifeddine Yacoubi – also named in some reports as Saifeddine Rezgui – the man killed by security forces during the attack. Security sources say that Yacoubi was a 23-year-old electrical engineering student.

It is not confirmed that Qayrawani and Yacoubi/Rezguid are the same individual.

Rafik Chelli, a senior Tunisian interior ministry official, said the gunman killed was not known to the authorities and was not on any list of potential terrorists.

Local radio said police captured a second gunman, but officials have not confirmed the arrest or his role in the attack. There are also reports that the second gunman escaped, but some eyewitnesses have said that there was just one attacker.

"It was just one attacker," said a hotel worker at the site. "He was a young guy dressed in shorts like he was a tourist himself."

A statement accompanying the picture said: "Our brother, the soldier of the Caliphate, Abu Yahya al Qayrawani, reached his target the Imperial hotel despite the security measures."

Sky News report that the statement continues to say that he had attacked a "bordel" (brothel) and killed "40 infidels".

According to eyewitnesses, Yacoubi was laughing and joking among the tourists prior to the attack. But it is claimed that he was selecting his victims and had a Kalashnikov rifle concealed in his parasol.

An unnamed Tunisian eyewitness told the local Mosaique FM radio: "He was laughing and joking around, like a normal guy.

"He was choosing who to to shoot. Some people, he was saying to them, 'You go away'. He was choosing tourists, British, French."

The Foreign Office has confirmed that at least five of those killed were British. One Irish national was also among the dead.

As well as Britons, tourists from Germany and Belgium were also killed during the attack.

Anyone in the UK concerned about relatives in Tunisia can call the Foreign Office on 020 7008 0000. British nationals in Tunisia should make contact with the embassy there.