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Tunisian defense ministry rejects criticisms over mishandling of U. S. embassy attack

25 September 2012 23:03 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. The Tunisian defense ministry issued a communique Tuesday rejecting criticisms against the army’ s mishandling of the recent U.S. embassy attack,APA reorts quoting Xinhua.

The accusations against the army are due to a "lack of knowledge of certain parts of the army’s mission, whose intervention responds to specific requests," the TAP quoted the communique as saying.

"The role of the army during the state of emergency is secondary to that of security forces," it said.

The communique was issued in response to a statement made by a Tunisian presidential advisor, Adnene Mansar, to an American magazine in which he criticized the army for not containing the attack on the U.S. embassy earlier this month.

A massive demonstration erupted on Sept. 14 outside the U.S. embassy in Tunis against an anti-Islam movie. The demonstration turned into violent clashes and left four people killed and scores injured. The attack was eventually quelled after hundreds of presidential guards were dispatched to the scene.

Tensions between the Tunisian army and presidency were triggered by the recent appointment of a military advisor by President Moncef Marzouki in reaction to the army’s role in the extradition of former Libyan Prime Minister Baghdadi Mahmoudi in June.

After Mahmoudi’s extradition, Marzouki expressed his dismay for not being informed in advance.

Last week, another Tunisian presidential advisor who allegedly criticized the army for not informing the president of the extradition received a four-month suspended sentence by a military court in Tunis.