KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) — Officials say Taliban gunmen on a motorcycle killed a candidate running in Pakistan’s upcoming elections whose party opposed the militants.
Police officer Saqib Ismail Memon says the attackers killed Fakhurl Islam on Thursday as he was standing near his home in Hyderabad city in southern Sindh province.
Qamar Mansoor, a spokesman for the Muttahida Quami Movement party, or MQM, says Islam was running for the provincial Sindh assembly in elections on May 11.
Pakistani Taliban spokesman Ahsanullah Ahsan claimed responsibility for the shooting. The Taliban have threatened to attack members of the MQM because the party has spoken out strongly against them.
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Associated Press writer Rasool Dawar contributed to this report from Peshawar, Pakistan.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.
