20110110
africanews

The Tunisian government announced on Sunday that eight people had been killed in a renewed unrest over unemployment that took a viral turn over the weekend.

An earlier official statement said two people were killed when police fired in self-defence during overnight clashes in the town of Thala, about 200km (125 miles) southwest of the capital, near the border with Algeria.

But a late-night statement put the death toll at eight, when three people injured in the Thala violence died of their injuries and three more were killed in separate disturbances in the nearby town of Gassrine on Sunday.

Witnesses said another three people were killed in a third town, but there was no official confirmation, according to Reuters.

Members of the opposition have urged President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali to order a ceasefire to prevent further bloodshed.

Youths partaking in the wide demonstrations of more than three weeks, say they are angry at lack of jobs and investment, but authorities suspect a crafty manoeuvre from a minority of extremists intending to destabilise the North African country.