REUTERS

TUNIS: A young woman was killed and several people were wounded in Tunisia Thursday night when soldiers opened fire to break up street fighting that involved hundreds of people in a provincial town, residents and officials said Friday.
Crowds angered by the bloodshed then set fire to a police station, buses and a hospital in Sbeitla, 200 km southwest of Tunis, local people said.

The reasons for the initial clashes were unclear, though some residents blamed supporters of deposed president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali for trying to destabilize the country ahead of elections to a constitutional assembly in late October.

The accusation has been a common one to explain a rise in violent incidents in the once heavily policed country since Ben Ali fled in January. He was overthrown by an uprising that began in Sidi Bouzid, a city 40 km from Sbeitla.
“The army tried to break up fights between people from the town and opened fire, killing a 16-year-old girl named Soussan Souidi,” local Adnan Hlali told Reuters by telephone. “Many people were wounded, including two in a critical condition.”