A leading suspect in the deadly museum attack on foreign tourists in Tunisia has been killed in anti-terrorist operations, the country’s prime minister says.

Tunisia’s prime minister has sacked five leading security officials days after three gunmen attacked a Tunis museum, killing 21 people.

Tunisia says it will deploy the army to major cities and arrested nine people after 20 foreign tourists were shot dead at a museum in the capital in an attack claimed by Islamic State.

Gunmen in military uniforms stormed Tunisia’s national museum yesterday, killing 18 foreign tourists and two Tunisians in one of the worst militant attacks in a country that has largely escaped the region’s Arab Spring turmoil.