PARACHINAR: Kurram Agency Pakistan Peoples Party President Hamid Hussain Toori was shot dead by assailants here on Tuesday.

The motive behind the target killing is yet to be ascertained as the assassinated leader of the PPP had no enmity with anyone.

The PPP Kurram Agency chapter has announced three-day mourning over the murder. Mr Toori was laid to rest in his ancestral graveyard amid moving scenes.

Mr Toori was at his residence when someone called him on his mobile phone at around 9pm on Monday night.

After the call, Mr Toori left his home in Shublan village and rushed to Parachinar city.

On Tuesday morning, his body was found in the room of a hotel he had hired in Parachinar city. He was shot in the head from point-blank range while signs of torture were also visible on his body. Talking to media, Assistant Political Agent Shahid Ali Khan said that an spent casing of a TT pistol had been recovered from the room of Mr Toori.

PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari condemned the assassination and urged the authorities concerned to arrest his killers.

Published in Dawn, July 13th, 2016