Tunisian President Kais Saied has said murderers should be sentenced to death following the rape and killing of a young woman in the North African country.

"Those who commit murder should be sentenced to death," President Saied told a National Security Council meeting on Tuesday.

Rahma Lahmar, 29, went missing for a few days and her mutilated body was found north of the capital, Tunis, on Friday last week. She had been raped.

Police say they have arrested a suspect who has since confessed to the killing.

Many in the country are calling for the killer to be hanged.

Tunisia abolished the death penalty in 1991.