MARDAN, Jan 29 Unidentified persons shot dead a man in the Mohib Banda village here on Tuesday, police said.

The victim, Afsar Khan, was going home when the gunmen opened fire at him, killing him on the spot. The motive behind the killing could not be ascertained.

In another incident, Hamdullah was kidnapped by unidentified abductors from Takhtbai, 20 kilometres off here on Tuesday.

His brother Mohammad Ayub informed the Takhtbai police station said that Hamdullah had talked to him by the mobile phone saying that he was being kept in an underground room.

Meanwhile, the police arrested a man and a woman in Sheikh Maltoon Town and recovered two kilogram charas from their possession. The accused were identified as Balqees Begum, resident of Peshawar, and Imran, resident of Mardan.

The police also claimed to have seized 12 pistols, one Kalashnikov, two Kalakovs and 238 rounds during routine search in the Mardan city.