TUNIS, Feb. 6 (Xinhua) -- Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki cut short his visit to France and cancelled a planned visit to Egypt after a senior opposition leader was assassinated on Wednesday in capital Tunis.
Marzouki was expected to attend the 12th summit of Organization of Islamic Cooperation, which began Wednesday in the Egyptian capital of Cairo.
Chokri Belaid, the secretary general of the leftist Democratic Patriots Party, was shot in his head and neck on his way to work and died on the spot, local radio said. No one has claimed responsibility for the attack.
It is the first assassination in Tunis since former President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was toppled in early 2011.
For his part, Tunisian Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali slammed the assassination of Belaid, said that "the killing of Belaid is an assassination of Tunisian revolution."
"The identity of the killer is still unknown," Jebali said.
Meantime, thousands of protesters flocked to the streets of capital Tunis near the headquarters of Interior Ministry to protest against the killing of Belaid, chanting slogans against the Tunisian government.
