A Zanzibar police chief has told Sky News that five people have been questioned over an acid attack on two British teenagers, two of whom are being detained for further interrogation.
Regional police commander Mkadam Khamis said the other three have been released.
Katie Gee and Kirstie Trup, both 18, were attacked by two men on a motorbike as they walked through the historic capital Stone Town on Wednesday night.
The acid was splashed over their faces, chests, backs and hands.
The terrified girls were taken to hospital on the mainland Sky News Foreign Affairs Correspondent Lisa Holland said there were some suggestions that one of the people held was a local shopkeeper who had been in an altercation with one of the girls a few days before.
But she added that the motive remained unclear - with other reports of eyewitnesses saying the acid was not intended for the British teenagers but someone else walking down the road.
The pair, who had been volunteering at an orphanage on the island, were taken to hospital in Dar es Salaam on the Tanzanian mainland, and are due to be flown home today.
When they arrive in London it is thought they will be treated at a specialist burns unit.
Miss Gee's mother Nicky Gee told Sky News her daughter had suffered burns to her "whole face and her whole body" in the "vicious attack".
Katie Gee's mother, Nicky, told Sky News her daughter was badly burned Miss Trup also reportedly received horrific burns and was said to be "inconsolable".
The young women, from north London, were enjoying the last week of a trip as volunteer teachers to the predominantly Muslim island when a corrosive substance was thrown at them.
The trip had been organised by i-to-i Travel, which is based in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, and runs gap year trips to parts of Africa, Asia, central and South America and Australia.
Trips to teach in Zanzibar, based in Stone Town, start at £669 for two weeks, according to its website.
In a statement, i-to-i Travel said the pair were released from a hospital in the country's capital, Dar es Salaam, where they had been flown for medical treatment after the "acid attack".
The family home of Kirstie Trup in north London "All our efforts remain focused on ensuring they are supported whilst assisting them and their relatives with the arrangements for their return home," it said.
The Foreign Office travel advice for Tanzania warns that although most visits to the country are trouble-free, "violent and armed crime is increasing".
The advice, available on its website, says: "Mugging, bag snatching (especially from passing cars) and robbery have increased throughout the country."
It adds: "In Zanzibar, incidents have taken place in Stone Town and on popular tourist beaches."
Jakaya Kikwete, Tanzania's president, is reported to have visited the women at the Aga Khan Hospital in Dar es Salaam and promised that the men responsible for the "shameful" attack would be found.
Zanzibar is a semi-autonomous region of Tanzania Zanzibar is an archipelago of islands in the Indian Ocean around 22 miles off the mainland.
The semi-autonomous region of Tanzania is predominantly Muslim and has been the scene of some religious violence in recent years.
Earlier this year two Christian leaders were killed and in November a cleric was treated in hospital after an acid attack. This is thought to be the first attack on tourists.
A further announcement from the police in Zanzibar regarding the case is expected later today.
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