Three suspects arrested over killing of Venezuelan opposition leader

Three people have been arrested in Venezuela over the suspected murder of a regional opposition leader at a campaign rally last week ahead of parliamentary elections next Sunday, international media report.

Luis Manuel Diaz was killed by a man who approached the stage after a rally in the town of Altagracia de Orituco in central Guarico state, and other opposition leaders have blamed the shooting on the ruling Socialist Party.

The party has meanwhile denied the allegation, with President Nicolas Maduro saying the opposition is trying to discredit his government.

Lilian Tintori, the wife of opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez, who was in turn jailed for inciting violence in his role as the leader of a 2014 street protest movement, addressed opposition supporters alongside  Diaz shortly before the shooting.

Officials insist Diaz was a well-known criminal caught in a gang dispute, but opposition politicians say their candidates have been attacked on numerous occasions in the past weeks. Amongst them, Miguel Pizarro, an opposition politician running for re-election in Caracas, said he was confronted by armed men who shot into the air in the neighbourhood of Petare on Sunday.

The BBC adds that Miranda state governor Henrique Capriles said he was attacked by a group of masked men in the town of Yare earlier this month.