Gunmen kill leader of extremist group in NW Pakistan

PESHAWAR, Pakistan – Pakistani police say unidentified gunmen have shot and killed the senior leader of a Sunni extremist group along with his guard in the northwestern city of Peshawar.

Local police official Javed Iqbal says no one claimed responsibility for the attack that killed Ismail Darvesh before dawn Friday on the outskirts of the city. He said officers are searching for the attackers.

Iqbal said Darvesh was senior leader of Pakistan’s radical Sunni militant Ahle Sunnat Wal Jammat party, which is an offshoot of the banned Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan.

He is the former regional head of Sipah-e-Sahaba, an anti-Shiite party. It reviles Shiite Muslims as heretics and has been accused of violent attacks against them.