Jamaat-e-Islami leader shot dead in Bajaur

A politician affiliated with a religious political party in the Bajaur District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has been killed by the gunmen of a local Daesh group.

Senior police official Waqar Rafiq said, “Jamaat-e-Islami Bajaur leader Sufi Hameed was leaving the mosque after offering prayers after sunset (Thursday) when two masked men on a motorcycle opened fire on him.”

The official said the attackers escaped after shooting the politician in Bajaur district, near the border with Afghanistan where militants remain active.

The Daesh group Khorasan branch (IS-K) said its “soldiers shot an official of the apostate political party,” in a message on Telegram.

The local chapter of the group accuses religious political parties of going against strict religious preachings and supporting the country’s government and the military.

IS-K has recently carried out several attacks against political parties, including a suicide bomb blast at a rally in Bajaur last year which killed at least 54 people including 23 children.

“In this year alone, they have killed at least 39 people in targeted attacks and bomb explosions,” in Bajaur, a senior local security official said on the condition of anonymity.