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Hakim Mohammad Saeed, Former governor of the Sindh province, Pakistan, is assassinated. Image Credit: Gulf News Archives

1998 - Gunmen in Pakistan assassinated a respected former governor along with his two colleagues in Karachi and a top Muslim leader in Islamabad in separate attacks. Two men armed with automatic weapons fired at Hakim Mohammad Said, a top practitioner of herbal medicine, soon after he entered his crowded clinic in Karachi. Said, his deputy Abdul Qadir Qureshi, and a clinic employee died in the attack while seven others were seriously injured. The gunmen fled in a waiting car occupied by two others, police and witnesses said. President Mohammad Rafiq Tarar and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif expressed grief over his death describing Said as a national asset. The premier ordered an immediate inquiry and arrest of the killers, officials said.

Other major events on October 17

1748 French troops lift siege of English at Pondicherry, India.

1913 Serbs invade Albania.

1918 Republic of Yugoslavia is formally established.

1933 Albert Einstein arrives in the United States as a refugee from Nazi Germany.

1953 France agrees to withdraw all its occupation forces from Austria.

1991 At least 16 people are killed, when the night express from Nice to Paris smashes into a goods train at Melun.

1994 Jordan and Israel sign a historic peace treaty in Amman.

2000 Dubai Marina gets its first taste of water

2001 Israel’s tourism minister Rehavam Zeevi is shot dead in the first-ever assassination of a serving cabinet minister.

2003 Carlos Mesa becomes President of Bolivia.

2016 At least 30 people are killed as two buses collide at Khanpur in Pakistan’s southern Punjab province.

2017 71 killed, over 170 wounded in attack on Afghan police and soldiers in Gardez, Paktia province