The News Minute | July 31 2014 | 08:47 am IST

Tunis: The Tunisian Army chief,Mohamed Salah Hamdi , has stepped down from his post as the highest commander, the defence ministry confirmed on Wednesday.

Hamdi had presented his letter of resignation July 23, less than a week after 15 soldiers were killed by militants along the Algerian border.

He was leaving for "personal" reasons, Xinhua quoted Defence Minister Ghazi Jeribi as saying.

The army head will be temporarily replaced by the second highest commander, following the recommendation of the defence minister and the approval of President Moncef Marzouki and Prime Minister Mehdi Jomaa.

The reasons behind Hamdi's resignation could be the lack of coordination between the army and the air force, especially during the recent raiding and sweeping operations against armed "terrorists" near the borders with Algeria, a private radio Mosaique FM reported.

With IANS