KINSHASA, July 6 (Reuters) - Congo's main opposition party suspended on Sunday its participation in parliament to press the government to investigate the death of a local politician, which the party blames on an elite military unit.

But Kinshasa's police told French broadcaster Radio France International that Daniel Boteti, a vice-president of the capital's provincial assembly, was killed by armed criminals and that two suspects had been arrested.

Boteti, of the opposition Congo Liberation Movement (MLC) was killed in the early hours of Sunday in Kinshasa.

"The unruly and poorly supervised Republican Guard reside in this neighbourhood. Based on this fact, the MLC considers it (the Republican Guards) is at the origin of this killing," the party said in a statement.

"These people have opened fire on Boteti's car and fatally wounded him," MLC secretary general Francois Muamba told RFI, referring to the republican guard.

The MLC holds 64 seats in the Democratic Republic of Congo's 500-member national assembly.

Its figurehead is former warlord and vice-president Jean-Pierre Bemba, who was transferred to the International Criminal Court this week over charges that he led Congolese rebels in a campaign of rape and torture in the Central African Republic in 2002 and 2003.

The MLC said it wanted the Republican Guard to be moved out of the neighbourhood where Boteti was killed and wanted to make sure that those found guilty would be punished.

It suspended its participation in the national assembly, the Senate and the provincial assembly while waiting to see its demands fulfilled, the party said in a statement.

(For full Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say on the top issues, visit: http://africa.reuters.com/) (Reporting by Pellet Kipela; Writing by Ingrid Melander; editing by Sami Aboudi)

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