Taliban leader gunned down in Peshawar

KABUL on Monday, a private TV channel reported.

The Express News, monitored here, identified the victim as Maulvi Abdul Raqib from northern Takhar province. It gave no further details.

Raqib was shot dead by unidentified in Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, soon after he came out of his residence.

Raqib was seen as one of the Taliban leaders supporting peace talks with the administration of President Hamid Karzai.

No group has so far claimed responsibility for the killing of Raqib, who had been the only Tajik minister (of refugee affairs) in the Taliban cabinet.

Senior Taliban commander Noorullah Hotak was assassinated in Quetta in December. Haqqani Network leader Dr Nasiruddin Haqqani was killed in Islamabad in November.

PAN Monitor/mud

Visits: 0