Eight Britons, one Belgian and one German have been identified among the 38 people killed by an Islamist gunman at a Tunisian beach resort, the health ministry said Saturday.

Eight Britons, one Belgian and one German have been identified among the 38 people killed by an Islamist gunman at a Tunisian beach resort, the health ministry said Saturday.

"Ten bodies have been identified out of 38 -- eight Britons, a Belgian and a German," said senior ministry official Naoufel Somrani.

Another 39 people were wounded including British, German and Belgian nationals.

The ministry said more time was needed to identify the other victims because most of them were in beachwear at the time of the attack and were not carrying identification.

The Takfiri group, ISIL (so-called Islamic State in Iraq and Levant), claimed responsibility for the attack on Friday by an assailant who pulled a gun from inside a beach umbrella and opened fire on crowds of tourists on the beach and by a hotel pool in the popular Mediterranean resort of Port el Kantaoui.

Tunisian Prime Minister Habib Essid said early Saturday that most of the dead were British but that they also included Germans, Belgians and French.