MARDAN/PESHAWAR, Jan 6: Unidentified persons shot dead Jehar Khan Hoti, the district press secretary of Awami National Party, here on Thursday in an apparent targeted attack.

Eyewitnesses said that four armed motorcyclists ambushed his car on Mohib Road and killed him on the spot. The assailants, they said, fled the scene soon after committing the crime.

They said that passers-by rushed the ANP local leader to District Headquarters Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

A family member told Par Hoti police that the deceased had no enmity with anyone. He said that FIR would be registered after consultation with other family members.

The motive behind the incident was yet to be ascertained. The deceased was considered a confidant of the chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Sources said that he was on way to a nearby village to attend a jirga, convened for settling a dispute between two groups, when the motorcyclists attacked him.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Ameer Haider Khan Hoti condemned the killing of Jehar Hoti. The chief minister expressed profound grief over his tragic death and termed it a great loss for the party.

He expressed solidarity with the bereaved family and said that the culprits behind the incident would be brought to book.

He directed the administration for utilising all the resources to arrest the culprits. He prayed to Almighty Allah to rest the soul in eternal peace and grant courage to the bereaved family to bear the loss.

In another incident, two persons sustained injuries in a blast at Hassan Garhi area of Peshawar on Thursday. The injured, identified as Amir Khan and Yasir, are real brothers.

An official of Michini Gate police station said that Amir was a security guard at a local hotel. Both the injured were rushed to Lady Reading Hospital where they were stated to be in stable condition.

The improvised explosive device, he said, had been planted in a heap of sands lying in an open plot along Hassan Garhi Road. The device was detonated through a remote control, he added.

The actual target, he said, was a van of Peshawar Model School but it miraculously escaped. “As the van turned behind a wall the blast occurred. It also damaged nearby houses,” he added.

He said that the blast created a deep carter. According to bomb disposal unit the explosive, packed in a canister, weighed about three to four kilograms.

A case against unidentified terrorists was registered at Michini Gate police station. However, no suspect was arrested.