Peshawar: A senior Pakistan Army officer was shot dead by Taliban gunman after he attended Friday prayers.
Lieutenant Colonel Tariq Ghafoor was shot dead near Peshawar's Hayatabad area, the army said in a statement. "Lt Col Tariq Ghafoor embraced martyrdom due to firing by unidentified assailant after Friday prayers near Sarband Ring Road, Peshawar" the statement said.
The officer was posted at Peshawar and was undergoing post graduate studies at a government university, it read. "The officer of senior rank received two bullets in the head and succumbed to his injuries on the spot," a senior police officer said.
"It looks like an incident of target killing," he said.
"Colonel Tariq had land and family disputes," adding the reason behind the killing was not yet clear. Meanwhile, the banned terrorist outfit Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility for the attack, The Express Tribune reported.
"The TTP's sharp shooter targeted Col Tariq," the group's spokesperson Mohammad Khorasani claimed in a statement.
