Pakistani election candidate shot dead by Taliban

A candidate in Pakistan's upcoming elections has been gunned down by Taliban assassins on a motorcycle.

KARACHI, Pakistan // A candidate in Pakistan's upcoming elections was gunned down by Taliban assassins on a motorcycle yesterday.

Fakhurl Islam, whose party had spoken out strongly against the militant group, was killed near his home in Hyderabad city in southern Sindh province, a police official said.

He had been running for provincial assembly in an election scheduled for next month.

"We condemn this heinous crime and we demand that all the candidates should be provided better security by the government," said Qamar Mansoor, a spokesman for the Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM), the party Islam belonged to.

The Taliban had previously threatened to attack members of MQM because of its statements.

Hours later, Ahsanullah Ahsan, a Pakistani Taliban spokesman, claimed responsibility for the killing and vowed to continue with similar attacks.

He said the Taliban would continue targeting MQM, the Awami National Party (ANP) and the Pakistan People's Party of the late prime minister, Benazir Bhutto, "for working against them" when the three parties were in power between 2008 and 2013.

In recent years, Taliban militants have mainly targeted ANP leaders in the north-west, killing one of its senior politicians, Bashir Bilour, during a suicide attack in December in Peshawar.

On March 31, the Taliban attacked the motorcade of a campaigning ANP politician with a roadside bomb in the north-western city of Bannu, wounding him and killing two of his supporters.

Yesterday's attack indicated the Taliban threat was not confined to the north-west or Karachi, as it took place about 100km north-east of Karachi, the country's financial capital where MQM enjoys significant support.