The United States condemned the attack and promised to assist the Tunisian authorities in the investigation.
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A 13th body found at the scene has not yet been identified and is suspected to be that of the bomber, the news media in Tunis reported.
Reporter Adnen Chaouachi just came back from a funeral for one of the 12 people killed by a suicide bomber on Tuesday. Tunisian authorities have identified a suicide bomber who targeted presidential guards in a deadly attack, saying he was a 27-year-old local street vendor.
The bomb exploded while the bus was parked near the main artery in the country’s capital, where guard members are usually picked up and dropped off, said an official.
The blast shook Tunisia and its fragile young democracy after two attacks on tourist sites this year by Islamic radicals that killed 60 people.
Tunisia’s Interior Ministry said 10 kilograms (22 pounds) of military explosives were used in the attack on Tuesday, adding that either a backpack or a belt containing explosives was used.
The National Security Council of Tunisia also belatedly approved the release of money in a counterterrorism fund that would finance relief projects in the most disadvantaged regions of the country, which is wedged between Libya to the east and Algeria on the west.
On Wednesday morning, the Tunisian president convened an emergency meeting of his security council.
The bus stop where the presidential guard picks up and drops off its staff is near the former headquarters of former President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, who was deposed in 2011.
It was also the first suicide bombing in the capital.
The transport ministry announced that security would be reinforced in the country’s ports and that only passengers would be allowed to enter Tunis’s worldwide airport.
But Islamist militants now pose a serious challenge for a country heavily reliant on tourism for its revenues.
In June, 39 people, majority British, were killed when a jihadist gunman went on a rampage at a seaside hotel at a resort in Sousse.
More than 3,000 Tunisians have left to fight for militant groups in Iraq, Syria and neighboring Libya.
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A state of emergency imposed after the Sousse attack expired in October. Amnesty International’s Tunisia research team had arrived in Tunis for an event to promote a report on sexual and gender-based violence marking the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women which the organization made a decision to suspend in light of the latest attack.
