Following the assassination of prominent Tunisian opposition figure Mohamed Brahmi, CEOAFRICA.com gathered that the country’s Interior Minister confirmed that the same gun used to murder him was used to kill his opposition coalition leader Chockri Belaid in February.

According to sources, Mr. Lotfi Ben Jeddou disclosed at a news conference that the assassination suggested the involvement of the same hardline Salafist group. “The same 9mm automatic weapon that killed Belaid also killed Brahmi,” he said.

He named the main suspect as Salafist Boubacar Hakim, already being sought on suspicion of smuggling weapons from Libya.

The Interior Minister said that ballistic examination of the bullets fired on Thursday at Brahmi showed they came from the same gun used to kill leftist Belaid in February.

Meanwhile, serious political crisis has erupted following the assassination, as oppositions call for dissolution of the government.

Presently, the economy of Tunisia is at risk because banks and shops are currently closed, coupled with the cancellation of flights on Friday by Tunisair. Also, the General Union of Tunisian Labour (UGTI) called for nationwide strike in protest against “terrorism, violence and murders.”

Protesters took to the street on Friday, after thousands of demonstrators rallied around the country on Thursday, with many holding the ruling Ennahda Party responsible for the assassination and attacking local party headquarters.

However, Police used tear gas in central Tunis and in the provinces to disperse the protests.

It would be recalled that in February, prominent secular figure Chockri Belaida was murdered in similar circumstances, as mass protest which follows the assassination led to the resignation of then-Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali.