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A Tunisian police officer has been shot dead in the beach resort of Sousse, where 38 people, mainly British tourists, were killed in June.

Officials said three officers were attacked by two men on a motorcycle.

The interior ministry said police in the city, 140km (90 miles) south of the capital Tunis, had launched a vast search for the gunmen.

Tunisia's tourism industry has suffered badly since the Sousse beach killings and an attack in Tunis in March.

"Three policemen were the target of gunshots fired by two men on a big motorcycle," a statement from the interior ministry said.

"One of them died during transport to the hospital, the other two were not affected," it added.

Sousse is still trying to recover after a gunman killed 38 tourists on a beach in the city on 26 June in an attack later claimed by the Islamic State (IS) group.

Officials say more than 3,000 Tunisians have left to fight with IS in Iraq and Syria and increasingly in neighbouring Libya.

The gunmen in the Sousse massacre and an attack on the Bardo Museum in Tunis on 18 March were trained in militant camps in Libya.

Tunisia emerged as a model for democratic transition in the Middle East after an uprising in 2011 ousted President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali - but it has faced a growing militant threat.

Credit: The BBC