Tunisian politician killed by Salafist extremists, claims official

Tunisians hold portrait of slain opposition politician Mohamed Brahmi Tunis – Azhar Jarboui Tunisia's interior minister has accused conservative religious group Ansar al-Sharia of being behind the assassination of one of the country's prominent opposition leaders. Lotfi Ben Jeddou told reporters on Friday that Salafist radical Boubaker Hakim, already being sought on suspicion of smuggling weapons from Libya, is thought to be behind the murder of Mohamed Brahmi.
Movement of the People party leader Brahmi was gunned down outside him home on Thursday morning.
Ben Jeddou said that the weapon used to assassinate Brahmi on Thursday was the same as the one used for the murder of prominent secular figure Chokri Belaid in February.
The minister explained that ballistic examination of the bullets fired Thursday at Brahmi showed they came from the same gun used to kill Belaid five months earlier, adding that some of the suspects involved in both  murders belong to Ansar al-Sharia.
Two men on a moped shot Brahmi 14 times in front of his home as he was getting in his car. Belaid was killed in a similar fashion.
The main suspect, Hakim, is currently on the run, with the police having searched his aunt’s house, where he lives, and found a stash of weapons and bullets.
Ben Jeddou denied the possibility of a political party being responsible for Brahmi's killing.
On Thursday evening, President Moncef Marzouki declared Friday as a national day of mourning, and vowed to prevent the "criminal scheme" that is to destroy the democratic process in Tunisia.
Marzouki addressed the country in a televised speech, where he condemned the crime which, he said “aims to sow discord in the country."
"We will face the security challenge and all murderers will be brought to justice," Marzouki said.
Marzouki said the assassination, which coincided with Republic Day, is not "an accident but a premeditated act aimed to destabilise the country and disrupt the political consensus that has emerged during the final phase of the process of democratic transition."
He said the aim of the killers "who have nothing to do with Islam," is to terminate the Arab Spring which has seen more success in Tunisia than in other countries.