Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki extended on Wednesday the country’s state of emergency after a recent series of attacks by extremists.

Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki extended on Wednesday the country's state of emergency after a recent series of attacks by extremists.

"Marzouki decided Wednesday to extend the state of emergency by three months from November 1, 2012," said the official TAP news agency.
The extension was proposed by military and security officials, it added.

Extensions of the state of emergency -- which has been in place since January 2011, when a revolution ousted long-time president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali -- had only been made for 30 days at a time since July.

Authorities had pointed to the shortened extensions as a sign of improving security, but Wednesday's announcement of a three-month extension will likely raise fears of a deteriorating situation in Tunisia, which is still dealing with instability unleashed by the revolution.

The authorities have vowed to crack down on extremist violence in the wake of a Salafist-led attack on the US embassy in September in which four assailants were killed.

On Tuesday, extremists raided two national guard posts in a Tunis suburb, leading to clashes with security forces that killed one attacker, the interior ministry said.

After the clashes, dozens of extremists, some armed with knives, took to the streets of Tunis on Wednesday.
The government said police and soldiers had deployed heavily and would use all means to quell any unrest, but no such forces were visible on the ground.