ISLAMABAD: Former Information Minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed, a candidate in the by-election for a National Assembly seat, was injured and four people were killed when gunmen opened fire at his election office in Rawalpindi on Monday.
Sheikh Rasheed was about to leave his Lal Haveli office in a procession to address a corner rally in Khayabane Sir Sayed when the gunmen struck.
The politician was hurt but not by a bullet, aide Javed Qureshi said. Sheikh Rasheed apparently injured himself when he fell over during the attack. “Unidentified gunmen opened fire with Kalashnikovs. It was an assassination attempt,” Qureshi said.
Two guards and two other people were killed, Interior Minister Rehman Malik told Parliament. Two guards were wounded.
Sheikh Rasheed was information and railway minister in the government of President Pervez Musharraf. He lost his seat in Parliament in a February 2008 general election. He left the former ruling party and set up his own party after the election loss.
The identity of the gunmen was not known but the violence is likely to raise political tension.
Meanwhile, authorities arrested six suspected Taleban militants with a suicide vest and hand grenades allegedly on their way Monday to attack a five-star hotel and kill Americans in Lahore.
The militants arrested Monday on the outskirts of Lahore included a 14-year-old boy and a prayer leader from Pakistan’s Khyber tribal area near the Afghan border, said police officer Zulfikar Hameed.
The prayer leader was wearing a vest packed with explosives. They told police they were targeting Americans at the Pearl Continental hotel, he said.
— With input from agencies
