TIMERGARA, June 30: A close aide of jailed TNSM leader Maulana Sufi Mohammad was killed when unknown armed persons opened fire on him at Bandai, Maidan, on Friday night, residents and police told Dawn.

They said that the victim, Maulana Ghayasuddin Khan, was going to a nearby mosque to offer Isha prayer when armed men attacked and killed him on the spot.

Maulana Ghayas was the son of Khan of Bandai, Maidan, Abdul Wahid Khan and a close aide of Maulana Sufi Mohammad, chief of Tanzeem Nifaz Shariat-i-Muhammadi (TNSM). In 2009, he was kidnapped by Maidan-based Taliban, but later released him unconditionally.

The Maidan police have arrested one Mohibullah in the case after private sniffer dogs entered his house at Bandai on Saturday.

Further investigations are under way.