Pakistani governor killed in Islamabad

Salman Taseer, the governor of Pakistan's Punjab province was shot dead in Islamabad

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/158588.html


The governor of Pakistan's powerful province of Punjab, Salman Taseer, has been killed by his own bodyguard in the capital Islamabad, police sources say.

Taseer, a senior member of the ruling Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and a close associate of President Asif Ali Zardari, was killed by his own guard in the capital Islamabad on Tuesday, AP quoted police official Mohammad Iftikhar as saying.

The governor was leaving his vehicle when a man from his security squad fired two shots at him.

Taseer then fell, while other police officials fired on the attacker, another police official, Hasan Iqbal told AP.

He was taken to hospital where he died from his injuries.

"Yes he has died," said a spokesman for the governor.

The attack took place near Kohsar market, popular with wealthy Pakistanis and expatriates and close to the governor's Islamabad home.

Five other people were also wounded as other security personnel responded to the attack.

He was killed because of his high-profile opposition to controversial blasphemy laws, said interior minister Rehman Malik.

The assassin, who was a member of Taseer's own security team, "confessed that he killed the governor himself because he had called the blasphemy law a black law," said the interior minister.

"He has confessed his crime and surrendered his gun to police after the attack," he added.

Taseer has recently spoken out against the country's blasphemy law.