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                    Police Deaths Delay Tunisia Crisis Talks

   Tunisians are mourning seven policemen killed in a gun battle with
   suspected jihadists that has resulted in a new delay in long-awaited
   crisis talks between the country`s main political forces.
   The slain police were to be buried later Thursday in home towns around
   Tunisia, including in the central Sidi Bouzid region where Wednesday`s
   clash broke out, amid rising anti-government sentiment.
   In Kef, where one of the officers is to be buried, protesters torched
   the office of Tunisia`s ruling Islamist party, Ennahda.
   President Moncef Marzouki declared three days of mourning for the slain
   security officers.
   In a brief televised statement, Prime Minister Ali Larayedh appeared to
   back away from comments made by his political allies to hand power to a
   caretaker government as part of a national dialogue brokered by the
   country`s leading union ahead of fresh elections.
   Ahead of the address, thousands of people in the capital protested on
   the second anniversary of elections that brought Mr. Larayedh`s
   moderate Ennahda party to power. Protest organizers told reporters that
   Wednesday`s demonstration was aimed at maintaining pressure on the
   government to keep its earlier resignation promise.
   In September, Tunisia`s powerful UGTT labor union, which has been
   mediating talks between the government and the opposition, said the
   ruling party had agreed to three weeks of negotiations, before yielding
   to a transitional administration and eventual elections.
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   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/police-deaths-delay-tunisia-crisis-ta
   lks/1776068.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/police-deaths-delay-tunisia-crisis-talks/1776068.html