PESHAWAR, Pakistan – A Pakistani journalist on the hit list of
a feared militant leader was killed by a remote-controlled bomb planted
in his car late Tuesday, officials said.
Nasrullah Afridi, 38, who had been working for state-run Pakistan
Television and several newspapers in the Khyber tribal district, died
when his car exploded in the northwestern city of Peshawar, local
police chief Liaquat Ali told AFP.
"A remote-controlled device was planted in the rear part of his car
which had been parked in a commercial area," he said, adding that it
detonated soon after Afridi returned and started the vehicle.
Provincial information minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain called it a
targeted killing. It was a small bomb with about one kilogram (two
pounds) of explosives, officials said.
Police said Afridi had received threats from a homegrown militant group in Khyber led by warlord Mangal Bagh.
Khyber is part of Pakistan's wild tribal belt on the Afghan border
where Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked militants have carved out strongholds
and which Washington calls the most dangerous region on Earth. AFP
