TUNIS: A senior member of Tunisian hard-line group Ansar Al-Shariah has been arrested in connection with the attack on the US Embassy in Tunis earlier this month, the Interior Ministry said yesterday.
“Hassen Brik, who is the subject of a police inquiry, was arrested on Sunday in the connection with the investigation,” ministry spokesman Khaled Tarrouche said.
Supporters of the extremist group’s leader Seif Allah Ibn Hussein, who is also wanted by the police, said on their Facebook page that the preacher “Hassen Brik was arrested in the El-Khadra district of Tunis on the pretext of checking his identity.”
His arrest adds to the 96 protesters held following the attack on the American Embassy in Tunis on Sept. 14, which left four people dead and dozens wounded. Since then, the police have been searching for hard-liner leaders, including Ibn Hussein who is also known as Abu Iyadh and who has managed to escape arrest several times since the deadly violence in which he has been implicated.