PESHAWAR, Aug 21: A former Taliban commander was shot dead in the tribal district of Bajaur, officials and residents said on Thursday.

Gul, a former Taliban military commander in Afghanistan’s northeastern province of Kunar, had travelled to Bajaur from Kunar earlier this week to attend a relative’s wedding, residents said.

“He was shot dead late on Wednesday,” eyewitness Inamul Haq, an elder of Bajaur said.

Gul was gunned down in Sadiqabad town on the outskirts of Bajaur district’s headquarters in Khar.

Local administration official Mawaz Khan Afridi said two Afghans armed with Kalashnikovs shot Gul as he was heading towards a mosque for evening prayers.

The killers fled immediately.

“We’ve arrested five people to pressurize the Afghan elders to hand over the two culprits involved in this killing,” Afridi told AFP.

Gul’s body has been returned to his home for burial.