Tunisia: Chokri Belaid assassination prompts protests

Tunisian opposition politician Chokri Belaid has been shot dead outside his home in the capital, Tunis.

Relatives say Mr Belaid was shot in the neck and head on his way to work.

He was a prominent secular opponent of the moderate Islamist-led government and his murder has sparked protests around the country, with police firing tear gas to disperse angry crowds.

President Moncef Marzouki has condemned the killing and is cutting short a visit to France to return home.

He has also cancelled a scheduled appearance at a summit in Egypt to return home.

Tunisia is currently gripped by political crisis as talks on a long-awaited cabinet reshuffle to include a wider range of parties in a coalition led by the Ennahda party have broken down.

The Paris-based France 24 TV station has reported that Mr Belaid reportedly received recent death threats.

It said that he died in hospital after being shot by "three men in a black vehicle".

"My brother was assassinated. I am desperate and depressed," Mr Belaid's brother Abdelmajid Belaid told AFP.

Correspondents say that although Mr Belaid's party did not have a large share of the election vote, it spearheaded popular concern over the rising level of political violence in Tunisia.