PESHAWAR: Unknown gunmen on Monday shot dead a former US consulate employee in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar, police said.

Two gunmen riding a motorcycle fired at Faisal Saeed, outside his residence in Peshawar, senior police official Najibur Rehman told AFP.

He said Saeed was a former employee of the US consulate in Peshawar. The US embassy in Islamabad did not immediately comment on the incident when contacted by AFP.

Peshawar is a frontline city in Pakistan's battle against insurgents. Since July 2007, Pakistan has been gripped by a local Taliban-led insurgency, concentrated largely in the northwest.

The government says more than 40,000 people have been killed in Pakistan by Taliban and Al-Qaeda-led militants, who oppose the country's alliance with the United States.