PESHAWAR: Unidentified motorcyclists on Wednesday shot dead an Awami National Party leader and his nephew in Tehkal area of the city, police said.

SP cantonment Waseem Riaz said the incident took place in Subhan Abad neighbourhood, when unknown motorcyclists opened fire, killing Ibrar Khalil and his nephew, Arshad on the spot.

An official at Tehkal police station said Mr Khalil had contested elections on ANP ticket from PK-74 constituency in the July 25 general elections.

The official said Mr Khlil along with his nephew was going in a vehicle when two assailants opened fire on them. He said the motive behind the attack was not clear and the family had yet to nominate anyone in the FIR.

Meanwhile, in a statement, ANP provincial general secretary Sardar Hussain Babak condemned the killing of Mr Khalil and said there was no security in the provincial capital and the PTI government had left the general public at the mercy of terrorists.

Another statement issued here said Mr Khalil and his nephew’s funeral prayers would be offered on Wednesday night and they would be buried in their ancestral graveyards.

ANP has been at the crosshairs of the Taliban attacks and hundreds of its workers and leaders have been killed during past some years.

In July, ANP provincial information secretary Haroon Bilour was killed in a suicide blast along with 20 others during the election campaign.

Published in Dawn, September 6th, 2018