A woman who blew herself up on a busy street of the Tunisian capital this week has been identified as an unemployed graduate, the prosecution said Tuesday.

Mna Guebla detonated a bomb Monday near a gathering of police cars in Tunis’ upmarket Avenue Habib Bourguiba, wounding 15 officers and two teenagers in the first such attack in the city since 2015.

The bomber, from the eastern region of Mahdia, was aged 30 and had a degree in business English, said prosecution spokesman Sofiene Sliti, who also represents the country’s anti-terrorism unit.

Guebla did not have a job related to her studies, but sometimes worked as a shepherdess to help her family, according to Tunisian media.

Eight years since a revolution that toppled longtime dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, Tunisia’s economy is stagnant and around a third of young graduates are unemployed.

Authorities had not previously identified Guebla as a potential extremist, Sliti told AFP.

The prosecution spokesman said there had not yet been any arrests in connection with Monday’s attack.
Authorities said nobody was seriously injured in the explosion.

Tunis returned to normal on Tuesday apart from a reinforced police presence around the blast site, on a major artery and close to the North African country’s interior ministry and French embassy.

Municipal workers had used high-pressure water hoses to clean the area, where tourists were walking again and cafes had re-opened.

AFP