Tunisia's President Beji Caid Essebsi said on Sunday that a third gunman involved in an attack that killed 23 people, mostly foreign tourists, at a Tunis museum last week was on the run.

The shootings at the museum inside Tunisia's parliament compound was one of the worst militant attacks in Tunisian history and brought to light the threat posed by Islamist militants to the young democracy, four years after its Arab Spring revolt.

Two gunmen were shot dead at the scene and authorities have so far arrested more than 20 people, 10 of whom officials believe were directly involved in the attack. Some had recently returned from fighting for Islamist militant groups in Syria and Libya.