Tunisia has deployed armed police in its tourist destinations in a bid to beef up security after a recent terror attack on a beach resort that left 38 people dead.

Tunisia’s Interior Ministry said Wednesday that 1,000 armed officers have been deployed to reinforce the country’s tourism police.

“This morning, we started to deploy and armed police will be in hotels within the hour,” Mohamed Ali Aroui said, adding that security officials are busy deploying at Hammamet, a town known for its popular tourist destinations.

It is the first time that police are going to carry guns in tourist resorts in Tunisia.

The North African country was rocked by deadly attacks last Friday in Port El Kantaoui. A total of 38 foreign tourists, most of them British nationals, were killed.

The ISIL, a Takfiri terrorist group operating in Iraq and Syria, claimed responsibility for the incident. The gunman who carried out the attack was killed in a shootout that ensued.

Around 4,000 foreign holiday-makers, terrified at the scene of the shooting, were repatriated on the weekend and another 1,900 are to return home in the coming days.

Tunisian officials said the attacker, identified as the 23-year-old Seifeddine Rezgui, had received weapons and training from the Takfiri terrorists in neighboring Libya, which has been in chaos in recent years.

MS/KA/GHN