20110202
Xinhua
TUNIS, Feb. 2 (Xinhua) -- Tunisia's new interior minister Farhat Rajhi said in a TV interview on Tuesday that the attack against the interior ministry is "a conspiracy to undermine the country."

The gangs with 2,000 people, armed with clubs and knives who terrorized schools throughout the capital of Tunisia on Tuesday, were the same who attacked the ministry, Rajhi told Hannibal, a popular private channel on Tuesday evening.

Meanwhile he also announced the dismissal of 34 senior police officers and replacement of seven others.

The security situation in the country was further strained by the strike launched by the country's police on Monday, while a deal has been reached on Tuesday to raise the salary of policeman from 20 U.S. dollars to 100 dollars per month.

Following weeks of protests that followed the ouster of former President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, the north African country restore to normalcy after the country's second interim government removed the remaining loyalists of the former regime. However, the latest assaults on Monday and Tuesday indicated that the factions loyal to Ben Ali and his family are still at large.