TUNIS, July 30 (Xinhua) -- A Tunisian police union has unveiled the existence of a "parallel" police force within the country's interior ministry, the official TAP press agency reported on Tuesday.
A list of 15 officers implicated in corruption cases were released on the union's website and published on a number of news websites.
According to Walid Zarrouk, a spokesman for the union, supporters of the ruling Islamic party Ennahdha have been placed in key positions with a view to "subjugate the security apparatus. "
He said that the interior ministry had been "infiltrated" by a parallel police force, composed of cadres under the former regime of Ben Ali, who later changed their loyalties to serve Ennahdha.
He added that several of those officers had been promoted despite their former implication in corruption and torture cases.
The union issued a request to interior minister to preserve the neutrality of the system, while respecting the independence of the unions and promoting a law protecting police officers.
Earlier on Tuesday, the country's interior minister Lotfi Ben Jeddou said he was seriously resigning from his position but that the reality on the ground requested continued efforts until the naming of a national salvation government.
The country is facing one of the gravest political crisis in its history after Mohamed Brahmi, a prominent opposition figure, was gunned down before his home last week by alleged Islamic militants. The assassins who have been identified are still at large.
To make things worse, 8 soldiers belonging to a counter- insurgency unit were killed in an ambush near the Algerian border on Monday, sparking further anger among the population.
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