The Interior Ministry announced that Tounsi, who had headed the police force for 16 years, was shot dead in his Algiers headquarters by a retired army officer "in a fit of madness" last Thursday.

But there were suspicions the slaying was linked to Bouteflika's confrontation with the Intelligence and Security Service, known by the French acronym DRS. It has been waging an anti-corruption campaign against the president's political allies since December but he is seen as the real target.

DRS Director Mohammed "Tewfik" Mediene has been crossing swords with Bouteflika for years. The president sought to curb Mediene's authority and to overhaul the security services to act as a counterweight against the military. The generals held power in Algeria for two decades but Bouteflika has steadily sidelined them since be was elected in April 1999.

The motive for the killing of Tounsi, head of the Directorate General of National Security, or DGSN, remains unclear.

The Interior Ministry said the officer who fired five pistol shots into him and killed himself had a personal feud with the police commander. But the Algerian media has been reporting for months that Tounsi was increasingly at odds with Interior Minister Yazid Zerhouni, who controls the police force and wanted to retire him.

Tounsi, a powerful figure and a veteran of the 1954-62 war of independence against the French, was seen as highly effective police commander in the struggle against Islamist militants since the early 1990s. But he was part of the military-linked Old Guard that Bouteflika has been gradually replacing with younger men loyal to him.

The assassination heightened tensions generated by the power struggle and the anti-corruption campaign that has concentrated largely on the state-run national oil company, Sonatrach.

But official corruption is widespread and has reached into the police force as well. In 2003, some 50 police officers sent a letter to Bouteflika accusing Tounsi and his closest associates of corruption.

Tounsi was apparently able to deflect those allegations. But official sources claimed that his killer, a retired army officer named Weldtash Shoeib, had been dismissed as head of the police air division by Tounsi the day before the shooting.

The sources said the dismissal concerned allegations of "dubious transactions" by Shoeib.

Bouteflika's success in shifting the balance of power in Algeria from the army to the presidency over the last several years has antagonized the coterie of generals who took over the government in 1992. They scrapped a parliamentary election that Islamic fundamentalists were set to win, triggering a brutal civil war that lasted until the end of the decade.

In the past, the military selected and replaced presidents. Initially the generals supported Bouteflika but he gradually undercut their power while ensuring that they escaped any blame for atrocities committed during the 1990s.

Political insiders say the DRS wants to clip Bouteflika's wings and restore the power of the military by picking off his closest allies and tarnishing his administration. One of the DRS' main targets has been Mohammed Meziane, chief executive of Sonatrach. He was placed under judicial investigation along with several of his management team in January.

Meziane was appointed by Energy Minister Chakib Khelil, one of Bouteflika's most trusted aides. Khelil crossed swords with the DRS, which is attached to the Ministry of Defense, in 2007, when one of his close associates, Abdeklmoumen Ould Kaddour, was arrested on charges of spying.

According to Africa Intelligence.com., a Paris Web site that specializes in intelligence affairs, one of Sonatrach's vice presidents, Chawki Rahal, is also in the DRS' cross hairs. He is related to Abdellatif Rahal, Bouteflika's diplomatic adviser.

In a separate corruption investigation launched in December, the DRS targeted another Bouteflika crony, Transport Minister Amar Ghoul.

The DRS actions have caused political shock waves at a time when Bouteflika's health has been reported to be poor. His third term expires in 2014 and he hasn't indicated whether he plans to run again.

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