Colombia's Education Minister Cecilia Velez said Tuesday that violent groups who had infiltrated the protests against the country's new educational laws were behind the attack on the deputy education minister.

Deputy Education Minister Gabriel Burgos suffered hands and face injuries on Monday, when a letter bomb sent to his office exploded.

The attack came after weeks of protests by students and teachers, who say a new government budget plan would cut education funds.

"We think it has to be a signal from those violent groups that are involved in the movement... The only thing that Burgos has tried to do is solve problems," said Velez.

He added that the students are not interested in solving problems, but in creating chaos. The Colombian Educators Federation (Cofede) had already called for the suspension of protests on Friday.

"We have already said that we will not act against the interests of public universities. We have respected peaceful protest, but these violent acts make us think some people do not want the problems to be solved," the education minister said.

Colombian authorities broke up a sit-in at a university building in province at Caldas and arrested 24 university students. Police also found explosives during the raid.

Source: Xinhua