REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, TUNIS -- Tunisian police and Islamists protesting against the arrest of a militant have clashed in the southern town of Douz, the interior ministry said on Friday.

"(This week) we arrested an Islamist under a search warrant. The case is unrelated to terrorism, but is a matter of common law," ministry spokesman Mohamed Ali Aroui said.

Clashes first broke out after the man was detained overnight between Wednesday and Thursday and continued overnight Thursday Friday, Aroui said.

"Around 50 Islamist demonstrators" clashed with police in Douz on the edge of the Sahara desert, he said.

Protesters used burning tyres to block roads and threw stones at police who replied with tear gas, the private radio station Mosaique FM reported.

"Police and national guardsmen are at the scene, and have the situation under control," Aroui said, adding that there had been 26 arrests and three members of the security forces were lightly injured.

Since the 2011 revolution that kick-started the Arab Spring uprisings, Tunisia has seen a rise in Islamist extremism.

For more than 18 months, security forces in the North African nation have been battling to neutralise militants blamed for the deaths of dozens of soldiers along the border with Algeria.

Over the past three years, the arrests of Islamist militants have sparked clashes between police and protesters in several towns across the country.

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