PESHAWAR: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) candidate from NA-8 Bajaur, Rehan Zeb Khan, was shot dead by unidentified assailants in the Siddiqabad Phatak Bazar area on Wednesday.
The district police officer and SHO Rashid Khan confirmed the news of the PTI leader’s murder. Khan, contesting as an independent, was also a candidate for provincial assembly seat PK-22.
Khan was at Siddiqabad Gate canvassing for the upcoming general elections when he was attacked by unidentified attackers while he was in his personal vehicle. This is the second attack on PTI’s electioneering within 24 hours. A day earlier, a bomb ripped through a PTI rally in Sibi, , leaving at least four people dead and five others injured, according to police and witnesses.
Saddam Tareen, the PTI candidate for the National Assembly constituency of NA-253, who was leading the rally on Jinnah Road, escaped unharmed. The injured were transported to the Sibi district headquarters (DHQ) hospital for urgent medical attention.
Police reported that initial investigations indicate an improvised explosive device (IED) was planted on a motorcycle parked by the roadside. The IED detonated with significant force as the PTI rally passed through the area, they added.
In the aftermath of the blast, all shops and markets along the main Jinnah Road were shuttered. Law enforcement personnel cordoned off the area and initiated investigations. Security measures were intensified in and around Sibi following the incident. –Agencies
