‘Daesh-linked’ gunmen shoot Pakistani intelligence officer

Gunmen have killed a Pakistani intelligence officer in the in the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, in an attack claimed by the Takfiri Daesh terror group.

Akbar Ali, an intelligence sub-inspector, who waiting at a bus stop near his home in Charsadda district, was shot dead by two gunmen on Monday, Suhail Khalid, district police chief told AFP.

Ali was hit by four bullets from the front and died on the spot, he said, adding that the armed men, who fled the scene, used a 9-milimeter pistol.

The attack was later claimed by Daesh terrorist group in a short statement posted on Amaq, its affiliated news agency.

Last month, Pakistan’s military admitted for the first time that the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group had a presence in the militancy-riddled country, but said it had detained hundreds of its militants and prevented them from carrying out major attacks.

Army spokesman Lieutenant General Asim Bajwat said that Pakistani forces had foiled planned attacks by Daesh terrorists on embassies and an airport in the capital, Islamabad.

He, however, denied the terror group was behind an August attack on a hospital that killed 73, as it had claimed.

In recent years, the Daesh terrorist group has been making inroads into Afghanistan and Pakistan. The group is also using a sophisticated social media campaign to woo local Taliban and other militants.

SS