Pakistan election candidate shot dead
A Pakistani grocer standing in historic polls next month was shot dead yesterday in a drive-by killing in the southern city of Hyderabad, police said.
Fakhrul Islam, 46, a candidate for the secular Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), a coalition partner in the outgoing government, was killed by gunmen on two motorcycles when he left the shop he owned with his father.
"He sustained four bullets in his head and abdomen and died on the spot," police official Akhtar Hussain told AFP.
His father was not injured, but police said he was in "deep shock".
Islam was running for the Sindh provincial assembly in national and regional elections on May 11.
The polls will mark the first democratic transition in the nuclear-armed country, which has been subject to extended periods of military rule.
Islam was the first candidate for the elections to be assassinated and the killing was likely to fuel concerns that violence would mar the vote.
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