Governor of Pakistan’s Punjab state killed in attack

ISLAMABAD - The Pakistan president’s close aide and governor of the country’s largest province Punjab was killed Tuesday when a man opened fire at him in Islamabad, a government official said.

Salman Taseer died of his injuries in hospital, his public relations officer Ishtiaq Amin said.

Some media reports cited witnesses as saying that a policeman who was a member of the squad guarding him opened fire at Taseer when he was leaving his house, located near a market popular with foreigners.

The policeman was arrested.

Taseer was a close aide to President Asif Ali Zardari and a vocal critic of rising Islamist militancy in Punjab.