Three years after Tunisia's revolution, youths who formed the vanguard of protests find themselves sidelined from the political arena by veteran leaders determined to hold on to power.

Sparked on December 17, 2010 by the self-immolation of a 26-year-old street vendor angry with corruption and police harassment, the uprising toppled autocratic president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali a month later.

Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki said he was confident the country could overcome a protracted political crisis that deepened Tuesday with the breakdown of talks on a new prime minister.

"Tunisia will get through this difficult phase," Marzouki said during a visit to Paris in his first reaction to the failure of the talks between ruling Islamists and the opposition. "We are determined to promote a democratic process, whatever the present difficulties may be."

Talks on choosing a new Tunisian prime minister have been suspended indefinitely after political leaders once again failed to agree on a leader to steer the country out of crisis.

"We have decided to suspend the national dialogue until there are favorable grounds for talks to succeed," said Houcine Abassi, head of the UGTT union federation mediating the crisis, late Monday.

A Tunisian court Monday adjourned the trial of three policeman in the case of a young woman raped last year, which caused uproar when the prosecution tried to blame the victim.

The woman, known by the pseudonym Meriem Ben Mohamed, burst out sobbing when the policemen entered the courtroom.

Tunisian political leaders met again on Monday in a new bid to choose a prime minister after missing two deadlines to bridge their differences and resolve months of deadlock.

The powerful UGTT trade union mediating the talks said the latest meeting began at around 1300 GMT, two hours after a noon deadline passed to announce the name of a new prime minister.

Tunisia on Sunday extended a state of emergency in place since its 2011 uprising, as politicians remained deadlocked in talks to choose a new premier at a time of rising Islamist unrest.

The presidency said it was extending until end of June the state of emergency, which has been renewed by periods ranging from one to three months over the past year and a half.

Tunisia's ruling Islamist party Ennahda and the opposition were deadlocked in talks Saturday to choose a new prime minister tasked with steering the country out of a months-long political crisis.

Tensions have gripped the country since the 2011 uprising that toppled veteran dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and were exacerbated with the murder this year of two opposition politicians by suspected radical Islamists.

Tunisia's party leaders met Friday to choose a new premier to be tasked with replacing an Islamist-led government and steering the country out of a months-long political crisis, mediators said.

The birthplace of the Arab Spring was plunged into turmoil after the assassination of a prominent opposition figure in July by suspected jihadists, with critics accusing the ruling Ennahda party, a moderate Islamist movement, of failing to curb extremists.

Tunisia, already destabilized by a political crisis, suffered a blow to its vital tourism industry after a suicide bombing and another that was foiled in two coastal resort towns.

Only the suicide bomber was killed Wednesday in an attack on a beachside hotel in Sousse, and the security forces thwarted another attempted suicide attack soon after in neighboring Monastir.

Tunisian security forces arrested five Salafist "terrorists" implicated in two failed attacks on Wednesday in resort towns on Tunisia's eastern coast, the interior ministry announced.

"The interior ministry's special forces have arrested five terrorists with direct links to the assailants who tried to carry out simultaneous terrorist attacks in Sousse and Monastir," a statement said.