A Pakistani lawyer under death threats for defending a doctor who helped CIA agents hunt al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was shot dead on Tuesday, police said, with two militant groups claiming responsibility.
Samiullah Afridi represented Shakil Afridi, who was jailed in 2012 for 33 years for running a fake vaccination campaign believed to have helped the US intelligence agency track down bin Laden. That sentence was overturned in 2013 and the doctor is now in jail awaiting a new trial.
Samiullah Afridi was shot dead as he was returning to his home in the northwestern city of Peshawar, police said.
According to media reports, he had recently returned there from abroad after leaving Pakistan for his own safety.
“He was returning home when armed men opened fire. He died on the spot,” police official Jamal Hussain said.
A hospital spokesman added that Samiullah Afridi was shot twice, in the abdomen and the neck.
Two Pakistani militant groups claimed responsibility for the lawyer’s death.
Jundullah, a Taliban splinter group, said: “We killed him because he was defending Shakil, who is our enemy.”
A Taliban faction, Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan Jamaatul Ahrar (TTP-JA), later said it had shot him.
“Dr Shakil Afridi had spied on our respected and supreme leader Sheikh Osama to the CIA,” TTP-JA spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan said. “Samiullah Afridi had represented his case, that’s why we decided to eliminate him when we can’t approach Dr Shakil.”
US officials have hailed Shakil Afridi as a hero for helping pinpoint bin Laden’s location before a 2011 raid by US special forces in Abbottabad, Pakistan, that killed the al-Qaeda leader after more than a decade of searching for him.
Samiullah Afridi stopped representing the doctor last year, saying he had become a target.
“I have been receiving threats from various organizations and because of those threats I even went to Dubai some time back,” he said. “Some organizations do not want us to continue defending this case ... Not only is my life in danger, my family is also in danger. I have therefore decided to quit this case.”
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of
A prominent Christian leader has allegedly been stabbed at the altar during a Mass yesterday in southwest Sydney. Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was saying Mass at Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley just after 7pm when a man approached him at the altar and allegedly stabbed toward his head multiple times. A live stream of the Mass shows the congregation swarm forward toward Emmanuel before it was cut off. The church leader gained prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic, amassing a large online following, Officers attached to Fairfield City police area command attended a location on Welcome Street, Wakeley following reports a number