TUNIS (AFP) - Thirty-eight people were killed and 39 wounded on Friday in an attack on a tourist resort in Port el Kantaoui in eastern Tunisia that was claimed by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) group.

The attack on the beach and pools of the Riu Imperial Marhaba Hotel near Sousse, 140km south of Tunis, was the bloodiest of its kind in recent Tunisian history.

The nationalities of many victims have yet to be determined, as most of those killed did not have identity documentation with them at the beach.

Following is information currently available from the identification process:

On Saturday, the health ministry said it had identified 17 of the 38 people killed. Among them were victims "of British, German, Irish, Belgian and Portuguese nationality", a ministry statement said, without giving a breakdown.

Britain said at least 15 of its citizens were killed in the attack, the country's worst loss of life in a terror incident since the 2005 London bombings.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier confirmed there was at least one citizen of his country among the dead.

Tunisian Prime Minister Habib Essid said late Friday there had been French victims, but on Saturday French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said none had yet been confirmed.

According to a provisional health ministry toll, 39 were wounded - 25 Britons, seven Tunisians, three Belgians, one German, one Ukrainian, one Russian and one more whose nationality has not yet been confirmed.

23 of the wounded left hospital on Saturday, the ministry said.

Eyewitnesses said the militant specifically targeted foreign tourists in his assault.