Former minister and two others shot dead

Assailants ambushed a vehicle carrying a top tribal elder in a northwestern tribal region yesterday, killing him, his driver and another man, an official said.

Malek Faridullah Khan was killed in the attack in the Krirh Wam area in the South Waziristan tribal region, an intelligence official said on condition of anonymity from Tank, a town located on the edge of South Waziristan.

Motive

Khan, a former government minister and member of the Pakistani senate, was travelling to Tank, the official said. No one claimed responsibility and the motive for the attack was not immediately known.

Alleged Al Qaida-linked militants have been blamed for attacks in the past against tribal elders believed to have helped authorities in the hunt against the fighters.

Yesterday's shooting came a day after Major General Niaz Khattak, the commander of Pakistan army troops hunting down militants in South Waziristan, said foreign militants have been eliminated in the region.

Khan was among several other tribal elders who welcomed Khattak and other army officials and journalists who were taken on a tour yesterday to Shakai, located north of Wana in South Waziristan.