Police: Guard kills Christian lawmaker in Pakistan

By: 10 years ago

A Pakistani investigator examines a crater caused by a deadly explosion at a market in Islamabad, Pakistan, Saturday, May 24, 2014. A bomb exploded in a supermarket parking lot at about 2 a.m. Saturday, killing a guard and wounding a passer-by, police officer Chaudhry Abid said. AP/Anjum Naveed

QUETTA, Pakistan — A guard for a provincial Christian lawmaker shot and killed the legislator during a meeting Saturday in southwest Pakistan, police said.

Lawmaker Handery Masieh was meeting with supporters from the ruling National Party outside his home in the southwestern city of Quetta when the guard opened fire, police officer Abdul Razzaq Cheema said.

One of the Masieh’s nephews was wounded in the attack, he said. Cheema said it was not clear why the guard opened fire.

Government spokesman Jan Mohammad Buledi said the guard fled after the attack and police were trying to arrest him.

“We do not know why the guard killed Handery Masieh, and everything will be clear when we arrest him,” he told reporters.

Quetta is the capital of Baluchistan, where nationalists groups have waged a low-scale insurgency to get a greater share of money earned from resources there, like natural gas.

Pakistani Taliban and al-Qaida-linked militants also hide in Baluchistan.