Blood Tunisia
A blood stain covers the ground in Sousse. Getty

The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for a massive attack on a Tunisian resort hotel that claimed the lives of 38 who were shot as they lounged beneath umbrellas at the beach.

It was the second major attack of the day for which Isis took responsibility, earlier claiming it had also carried out a bombing at a Shia mosque in Kuwait City that killed 25, reports the Washington Post.

Tourists from Britain, Germany, Belgium and Russia were the majority of those killed in the brazen daylight attack in Sousse, Tunisia.

In a statement circulated by Islamic State supporters online, the group said the Tunisia attack at the Hotel Riu Imperial Marhaba was carried out by member Abu Yahya al-Qayrawani. One gunman in the attack, who was shot dead by police, was from the Tunisian city of Kairouan, according to law enforcement authorities. A second gunman war arrested and another escaped, CNN reported.

The statement warned of other pending assaults. "Let them wait for the glad tidings of what will harm them in the coming days, Allah permitting," it said, referring to the "apostates" who had been the target of the Tunisia assault.

Earlier the Islamic State said follower Abu Suleiman al-Mowahid targeted the Kuwait mosque because it had been used to convert Sunni Muslims to the Shia branch of Islam.

The Tunisia and Kuwait attacks and the beheading of the manager at a US-owned factory in France followed an appeal from the Islamic State's spokesman Abu Mohammed al-Adnani for Muslims to mark the holy month of Ramadan by carrying out acts of jihad.

"Make Ramadan a month of disasters for the kuffar," meaning infidels, he said in the audiotaped address. He promised followers "tenfold" rewards in heaven if they died in such acts during the holy period. The day of the attacks also marked the one-year anniversary of the establishment of the Isis Caliphate.

In particularly bloody Syrian fighting, meanwhile, Isis killed at least 140 civilians in the city of Kobani.