Pakistan minority affairs minister shot dead

Gunmen shot dead Pakistan’s Minority Affairs Minister Shahbaz Bhatti in Islamabad Wednesday, doctor Azmat ullah Qureshi, spokesman for the local Shifa hospital, told AFP.

Two gunmen fired on Bhatti’s vehicle in I-8/3 area of the capital. He was taken to the hospital but had already succumbed to his injuries on the way.
“He is dead, we received him as dead, he was fired upon,” Qureshi told AFP.

Unidentified attackers escaped in a vehicle after shooting Bhatti at close range.

Police official Mohammad Iqbal said the attack happened as the minister was leaving his home on the way to work.

Bhatti, a Christian, had been threatened by extremists in the past and had spoken out against the country’s blasphemy laws.