HARIPUR, Feb 1 Sher Azam Khan, personal secretary to PML-N chief Mian Nawaz Sharif, was killed and his wife and two nieces were injured when gunmen ambushed their vehicle near the Khalabat township on Sunday.

Police said Sher Azam was going to Islamabad when the assailants opened fire on his vehicle near the old octroi post.

Sher Azam, his wife Zahida Bibi and nieces Amina Bibi and Anam Bibi were injured. They were taken to the Haripur district headquarters hospital where he died. His nieces and wife were taken to the Ayub Medical Complex in Abbottabad.

Sher Azam was a close relative of suspended tehsil nazim of Haripur, Iftikhar Ahmed Khan, who was named as an accused in a case about the murder of former transport minister Akhtar Nawaz Khan of the Awami National Party.

His close relative, Khalabat union council Nazim Sardar Salim Khan, said the deceased had no personal enmity, but the killing could be a result of his being a party in the case.

The FIR of Sunday's murder had not been lodged till evening.

Sher Azam was a former employee of the Peshawar University and a friend of former chief minister Pir Sabir Shah.