Samiullah Afridi, lawyer of Dr Shakil Afridi, who allegedly helped US Marines in tracing and killing al-Qaeda’s chief Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad, was shot dead near Peshawar on Tuesday.
Police said that unidentified gunmen targeted Samiullah Afridi in Aslam Dheri locality in Mithra area of Peshawar. The official added unidentified assailants fired at Samiullah’s car injuring him. The lawyer later succumbed to his injuries at the hospital.
In the meanwhile, Taliban splinter group Jamatul Ahrar claimed responsibility for the killing of Dr Shakil Afridi’s lawyer Samiullah Afridi.
“We claim responsibility for the killing of Shakil Afridi’s defence lawyer,” spokesman for TTP JA, Ehsanullah Ehsan, told a news outfit. “Others who linked themselves to Afridi’s case should expect such action,” Ehsan warned. He rejected the earlier reported claim of the attack by banned group, Jundullah.
Samiullah had fled to Dubai in December 2013 after receiving threats from militants but was visiting the country.
Shakeel Afridi was jailed for 33 years in May 2012 after he was convicted of ties to militants, though some US lawmakers said the case was revenge for Afridi helping in the search for the al Qaeda chief.
Afridi was convicted under Pakistan’s tribal justice system and last year a tribunal cut 10 years off his sentence.
But his efforts to clear his name on appeal have been hit by long delays and adjournments and suffered another blow earlier this month as the tribunal hearing his appeal was dissolved.
Samiullah was on the panel of lawyers who defended Dr Shakil Afridi in his cases before the political administration of Khyber Agency and FCR Tribunal.
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