Pakistan: PTI leader among 10 killed in targeted attack by rival group

Islamabad [Pakistan], March 22 (ANI): A local PTI leader, Atif Munsif Khan, was among ten people killed in a targeted attack by a rival group in Langra village in Havelian, police said on Monday, Pakistan-based Dawn reported.

Atif, the mayor of Havelian tehsil, was travelling in a car when a bullet pierced its fuel tank, resulting in a fire, according to Abbottabad DPO Umar Tufail. According to videos shared on social media, the car was completely gutted in the attack. Two injured were moved to a nearby hospital, Dawn reported.

The bodies for postmortem examination were shifted to the Abbottabad district headquarters hospital. No FIR was registered till the filing of this report, but police have started a search operation to arrest the culprit(s).

Some unconfirmed reports claimed that the car was gutted after it was hit by a rocket.

Munsif won the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa local bodies election in 2022 as an independent candidate from Abbottabad’s Havelian tehsil and later joined the PTI. His father, Munsif Khan Jadoon, was a former member of the KP assembly and remained provincial minister. He was also assassinated in the 1990s.

After the attack, a video featuring Mr Munsif went viral on social media where he could be seen playing cricket with children in the Langra village, hours before his death, according to Dawn. (ANI)