PESHAWAR: Unknown assailants on Wednesday shot dead a government officer in the limits of Yakatoot police station here on Wednesday evening.

Police identified the slain as Nawab Safi, a section officer at the Civil Secretariat. Mr Safi had previously served as assistant political agent of South Waziristan.

A police official told Dawn that the attackers shot dead Mr Safi when he came out of a mosque after evening prayers in Sharif Abad locality, saying the number of attackers was not immediately known.

He said that police had yet to register an FIR, adding apparently the incident was a targeted killing. The incidents of targeted killing have gone up in the provincial capital during the first five months of the current, with 16 people having been gunned down during the period mentioned. There were nine incidents of targeted killing reported during the same period, last year.-Bureau Report