Minorities' affairs minister Shahbaz Bhatti assassinated
Updated at: 1136 PST, Wednesday, March 02, 2011
ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Minorities, Shahbaz Bhatti was assassinated by unknown gunmen in Islamabad, Geo News reported. Hospital spokesman Dr Azmat ullah Qureshi confirmed that the minister succumbed to the injuries.

He was rushed to the hospital. Unknown assailants shot the minister when he was leaving from his house in Sector I-8.

In broad daylight, unknown assailants sprayed bullets on the car of the minister after he came out of his mother's home in a residential area of Islamabad, police said.

"Three or four armed men riding in a white car intercepted his official vehicle GV-444," city police chief Wajid Durrani told reporters.

"The attackers were clad in shawls and fired bursts on him, and he died," Durrani said. The minister's driver was wounded.

The police chief insisted that Bhatti had been provided with proper security, but said the minister was not accompanied by his security detail when the attack happened.

"The squad officer told me that the minister had directed him to wait for him at his office. We are investigating the matter from different angles," Durrani said.

Bhatti was dead on arrival at Islamabad's Shifa hospital, doctor Azmatullah Qureshi confirmed.