Pakistan Christian minister killed

Pakistan’s government minister for religious minorities died today after being shot by gunmen in the capital Islamabad, hospital officials said.

Shahbaz Bhatti was dead on arrival at Shifa Hospital after the attack.

Mr Bhatti was a Christian who had been threatened by Islamist militants in the past because he has spoken out against the country’s blasphemy laws.

Earlier this year, Punjab province’s governor was killed by a bodyguard who said he was angry that the politician opposed the blasphemy laws, which impose death for insulting Islam.

Mr Bhatti was on his way to work in Islamabad when unknown gunmen riddled his car with bullets, police spokesman Mohmmad Iqbal said.

The minister’s driver was also wounded badly, hospital spokesman Asmatullah Qureshi said.

No group immediately claimed the attack, but private Pakistani TV channels showed pamphlets at the scene of the killing that were attributed to the Pakistani Taliban warning of the same fate for anyone opposing the blasphemy laws.