Islamic State group gunmen kill politician in Pakistan

Gunmen from the regional branch of the Islamic State group have killed a politician in northwest Pakistan, police and the militants said Friday.

“Jamaat-e-Islami Bajaur leader Sufi Hameed was leaving the mosque after offering prayers after sunset (Thursday) when two masked men on a motorcycle opened fire on him,” senior police official Waqar Rafiq told AFP.

The official said the attackers escaped after shooting the Islamist politician in Bajaur district, near the border with Afghanistan where militants remain active.

Islamic State Khorasan (IS-K) said its “soldiers shot an official of the apostate political party”, in a message on Telegram.

The local chapter of the IS group accuses religious political parties of going against strict religious preachings and supporting the country’s government and the military.

IS-K has recently carried out several attacks against political parties, including a suicide bomb blast at a rally in Bajaur last year which killed at least 54 people including 23 children.

“In this year alone, they have killed at least 39 people in targeted attacks and bomb explosions” in Bajaur, a senior local security official told AFP on the condition of anonymity.

In both Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, where Bajuar is located, and Balochistan province in the southwest, armed Islamist or separatist groups regularly target security forces and state representatives.

Militants operating in Pakistan include Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the country’s homegrown Taliban group.

Pakistan has seen a sharp rise in militant attacks in regions bordering Afghanistan since the Taliban returned to power in the country in 2021.