Tunisia's Islamist premier Ali Larayedh on Monday vowed tough action against Ansar al-Sharia after bloody clashes between police and members of the radical Salafist group, hinting at a shift in government policy. Tunisia has been rocked by waves of violence blamed on militant Islamists since its January 2011 revolution, and Larayedh reacted angrily to the latest unrest, which erupted after the authorities banned Ansar al-Sharia's annual congress.

Tunisia's Islamist Prime Minister Ali Larayedh vowed firm action against Ansar al-Sharia, in remarks published Monday, after bloody clashes between police and members of the radical Salafist group. But the group's fugitive leader Abu Iyadh insisted, in a message posted online, that his followers could not be defeated despite their "persecution." Tunisia has been rocked by waves of violence blamed on militant extremists since the January 2011 revolution, and Larayedh reacted angrily to the latest unrest, in which at least one protester was killed and 15 police hurt.

Clashes broke out between radical Islamists and police on Sunday after Salafist movement Ansar al-Sharia told its followers to gather "in large numbers" near Tunis for its annual congress, defying a government ban. Hundreds of Salafists erected barricades in the streets of Ettadhamen, a poor neighbourhood 15 kilometres (9 miles) west of Tunis, and hurled rocks at police who responded with tear gas, an AFP journalist reported.

Tunisia's Prime Minister Ali Larayedh accused the hardline Islamist group Ansar al-Sharia that fought street battles in the capital with security forces on Sunday of being "involved in terrorism". "Ansar al-Sharia is an illegal organisation... it has ties to and is involved in terrorism," Larayedh told state television. The Islamists clashed earlier with security forces in Tunis and the central city of Kairouan after the government banned Ansar al-Sharia from holding its annual congress. One protester was killed and 11 policemen wounded in the confrontations.