Daily Times

Unidentified gunmen on Saturday shot dead a shadow governor of the Afghan Taliban in Peshawar, a second Taliban leader killed in Pakistan in five weeks, two Taliban officials said.

Abdul Hadi Pashaiwal, the Taliban governor for Laghman province, came under attack near his house at Bakhshu Pul area in the outskirts of Peshawar, they said. The slain Taliban leader was returning home from Mardan where he had gone to offer condolences on the demise of a relative, according to a Taliban leader.

The gunmen fled after the incident. No group claimed responsibility. However, a Taliban leader said Daesh could be behind the attack. Abdul Hadi is the second Taliban leader killed near Peshawar in five weeks. Taliban commander Abdul Samad Mullah Toor was shot dead in early January when he was offering morning prayers at a mosque near Peshawar.

Several Taliban leaders have been assassinated in parts of Pakistan in recent years. In April 2017 unidentified gunmen Friday shot dead a senior Afghan Taliban leader near Peshawar. Maulvi Mir Ahmad Gul Hashmi, a Taliban shadow governor for eastern Nangarhar province, was killed in Peshawar in June 2015. A former senior Taliban figure, Abdullah alias Maulvi Abdul Raqeeb – who was known to be in favour of peace talks with the Hamid Karzai administration – was gunned down in Peshawar in February 2014. Unidentified gunmen shot dead Dr Nasiruddin Haqqani, the brother of Sirajuddin Haqqani, the Taliban deputy chief near Islamabad in November 2013.