Militant leader shot dead in Pakistan

A spokesman says unknown gunmen have shot dead a leader of an outlawed Pakistani militant group in the country’s volatile northwest.

The attackers burst into the headquarters of the Vice and Virtue Movement in the Khyber tribal region this morning and shot dead its leader Haji Namdar.

Namdar’s spokesman Munsaf Khan says supporters of the organisation captured two suspects after the shooting, but it is too early to say who is behind the attack.

The Vice and Virtue Movement was banned in June when security forces launched an operation to curb the growing influence of Islamic militant groups in Khyber, amid concern they threatened the main northwestern Pakistan city of Peshawar.