Tunisia plans to build a wall along its eastern border with Libya to counter the threat of terrorists spilling over into the country.

The country’s Prime Minister Habib Essebsi said on state television that the wall would stretch 160 kilometres and is to be completed by the end of the year.

The announcement comes after 38 people were killed in an attack on a beach hotel in Tunisia on 26 June by a lone gunman affiliated with the jihadist group Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (Isis).

Essebsi declared a 30-day state of emergency on 5 July in response to the terrorist attack.

He activated a dictatorship-era law that restricts protests, rights of association and press freedoms.

On 2 August, a constitutional court will decide whether the state of emergency remains necessary.