A 30-year old woman blew herself up in the centre of the Tunisian capital on Monday, wounding 15 people including 10 police officers in what the Interior Ministry called a "terrorist explosion".
Witnesses described Monday s blast on Tunis s central Habib Bourguiba avenue where hundreds of police later cordoned off an area near the landmark Municipal Theatre and the French embassy.
"I was in front of the theatre and heard a huge explosion," witness Mohamed Ekbal bin Rajib told Reuters.
Ambulances could be heard rushing to the scene.
Shops were closed down on the avenue, usually one of the busiest streets in the capital and the site of protests that toppled long-serving leader Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali in2011.
The bomber had no previously known militant background, the interior ministry said.
Local media said the woman, named "Mouna", had a university degree in English and was from the coastal governorate of Mahdia.
There were no tourists among the injured, a security source said.
