Gunmen kill 4 in attack targeting lawmaker in NW Pakistan

Peshawar: Gunmen shot dead four people including two police in northwestern Pakistan in an attack targeting a provincial lawmaker from former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s political party, police said.

Lawmaker Malik Liaqat Khan — no relation to Imran Khan — of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party was wounded in the attack late Saturday along with three others and was hospitalized in the provincial capital of Peshawar, police said. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.

The assault took place in the Maidan area of the Lower Dir district of conservative Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which is governed by Khan’s party. Police officer Zar Badshah said among those killed were the nephew and brother of the PTI lawmaker, who was returning home after attending a funeral late Saturday.

The area has been a stronghold of late religious leader Sufi Mohammad, who preached a strict version of Islam in the 1990s and later led his followers in fighting in Afghanistan against the US and allied forces. It remained under the influence of the Pakistani Taliban until 2009.