Over a thousand Tunisian security forces have surrounded a mosque in the capital where a Salafist leader wanted by police over clashes at the U.S. embassy last week is meeting hundreds of followers, a Reuters witness said.

Riot police, military and elite anti-terrorism forces cordoned off al-Fatah mosque where the leader of the Tunisian branch of Ansar al-Sharia, Saif-Allah Benahssine, denied to followers he was involved in violent protests at the U.S. embassy.

A security source told Reuters that Benahssine, also known as Abu Iyadh, was wanted over the protests in which two Tunisians were killed and 29 wounded.