Senior Pakistani Police Officer Shot Dead In Southwest

Police said gunmen shot dead a senior police officer investigating sectarian killings in Pakistan's southwestern province of Balochistan.

The incident took place in Quetta, the capital of the oil- and gas-rich province, which is plagued by sectarian violence and a seperatist insurgency.

Police said the assailants sprayed Jamil Kakar with bullets when he left his house in his official car, killing him and injuring a police guard.

Salim Lahri, a senior police official, said Kakar died on the spot and the attackers fled on a motorcycle.

Officials said Kakar was investigating several sectarian attacks and that he had received threats in the recent past.

Nobody immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but sectarian violence between Sunni and Shi'ite Muslims has left thousands of people dead in Pakistan since the late 1980s.