Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri, a man identified as a guard of the governor of Punjab province Salman Taseer, is detained at the site of Taseer's shooting in Islamabad. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
ISLAMABAD - THE governor of Pakistan's most dominant province was shot and killed on Tuesday by a bodyguard who authorities said was angry about his opposition to blasphemy laws carrying the death sentence for insulting the Muslim faith.
Punjab Governor Salman Taseer, regarded as a moderate voice in a country increasingly beset by zealotry, was a close ally of US-backed President Asif Ali Zardari.
He is the highest-profile Pakistani political figure to be assassinated since former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto three years ago, and his death underscores the growing danger in this country to those who dare challenge the demands of Islamist extremists.
Taseer was riddled by gunshots while walking to his car after an afternoon meal at Kohsar Market, a shopping centre in Islamabad popular with Westerners and wealthy Pakistanis.
Initial reports indicated the suspected gunman, a police commando guarding Taseer, unloaded up to 26 rounds from a Kalashnikov automatic rifle. The gunman could have fired that number of rounds in a matter of seconds. Other guards then forced the police commando to the ground, according to police and hospital officials.
'It was one shot first and then a burst,' said R.A. Khan, a witness who was drinking coffee at the time. 'I rushed and saw policemen over another police commando, who was lying on the road with his face down.' An intelligence official interrogating the suspect said the commando had been planning the assassination since learning three days ago that he would be deployed with the governor. -- AP
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