Ali Larayedh Tunisian PM-designate TUNIS – Tunisian police have identified the killer of opposition leader Chokri Belaid as a member of a Salafi group who is on the run, Prime Minister-designate Ali Larayedh said Tuesday. Larayedh, who remains Interior Minister until his government is formed, told a news conference police had arrested four accomplices . The assassination of secular politician Belaid on Feb. 6 provoked the biggest street protests in Tunisia since the overthrow of Ben Ali two years ago. A security source said Monday a Salafi had been arrested in connection with the killing, while Tunisia's Express FM radio cited a senior security official as saying police had arrested three Salafis, including a police officer, over the murder. “Now we have identified the killer of Belaid and he is on the run. The police are looking for him,” Larayedh said. One of the arrested suspects had accompanied the gunman who shot Belaid outside his home before escaping on a motorcycle, he said, adding that the group had mounted surveillance of Belaid's home and a nearby square for several days before the attack. Hundreds of bystanders watched Tuesday as two of the detained suspects re-enacted the shooting at the scene amid a heavy security presence, local media said. The Interior Minister did not confirm the Express FM report that one of those detained was a police officer. “Identifying the killers of Belaid reinforces confidence in the judiciary and in the neutrality of security (forces),” said Larayedh, who belongs to the moderate Islamist Ennahda party. After his announcement, Belaid's widow Basma said it was still not clear who had orchestrated her husband's assassination, which was the first in Tunisia for decades. “It's good to know who killed Chokri, but it is very important to know who gave the order because it was a very organized crime,” she told France's Europe 1 radio in Paris. No one has claimed responsibility for the killing. Ennahda has denied accusations by some, including Belaid's brother, that it was involved in the assassination, which it has condemned. Ennahda leader Rached Ghannouchi denounced such accusations against his party and called for Belaid's assassins to be severely punished for a “heinous crime which ... endangered civil peace and co-existence among Tunisians.” – Agencies
