Tunisia said it had arrested the suspected killer of the leftist opposition leader, Chokri Belaid, whose assassination this month sparked wide protests across the North African country.

Tunisia said it had arrested the suspected killer of the leftist opposition leader, Chokri Belaid, whose assassination this month sparked wide protests across the North African country.

Police said on Monday the suspect was arrested along with an alleged accomplice, both members of the radical Muslim Salafist movement. The main suspect, a 31-year-old furniture maker, was arrested in the Carthage suburb of Tunis.

The second man was allegedly the getaway motorbike rider for the lone, hooded gunman who shot dead Belaid, 48, at close range in front of his Tunis home on February 6, two police officers told Agence France Presse.
They said the arrests were carried out on the strength of the testimony of a woman who had witnessed the killing and has since been placed under police protection.

Several online media also reported the two arrests, but the interior ministry spokesman was unreachable for comment.
Interior Minister Ali Larayedh, who has been tasked with forming  a new government in the face of the deepening crisis sparked by Belaid's killing, said last week that arrests had been made.

"The investigation has not led yet to identify the killer, those behind the murder and its motives," said Larayedh, refusing to elaborate or disclose the number of arrests.

Belaid's family has blamed the ruling Ennahda party for being behind the killing, an accusation the Islamists have vehemently denied.