PESHAWAR: The city police suspect an Afghan link in the murder of a former Inter Service Intelligence (ISI) official, who was shot dead on Tuesday night in the Hayatabad neighborhood of the city, which is close to the tribal Khyber Agency.

The slain official identified as Abdul Latif, 55, was gunned down by unknown assailants in limits of the Tatara police station. Mr Latif had retired as director from the ISI.

“Apparently, it was an incident of target killing and had Afghan links,” a senior police official requesting anonymity told Dawn.

The official said Mr Latif had served as first secretary in Afghanistan back in 1990s and was recently selected as dean of the social sciences at a Mazar Sharif university.

He said Mr Latif was even issued an Afghan visa and was due to leave for Afghanistan.

The official said the slain was a civilian cadre official of the ISI and spent his whole career in the spy agency.

An official at the Tatara police station told Dawn the officer was on his way to his brother’s house on Tuesday night, when unidentified assailants shot him dead.

The police official said the slain originally belonged to the Bahanamari locality of the city, but he had shifted to Tehkal, which was identified as his permanent residence.

Mr Latif was currently living in Hayatabad’s Phase-VI, the official said, adding the Counter-Terrorism Department had registered an FIR and was investigating the incident.

Published in Dawn, March 24th, 2016