ISLAMABAD, Oct 11: Suspected militants abducted a retired military intelligence officer a few hundred metres away from his house on Thursday morning, after shooting dead his driver who resisted the attempt, police said.

Brig (retired) Tahir Masood was being driven to his office from his house in the Defence Housing Authority residential colony when four gunmen in a Honda car blocked his Prado and kidnapped the brigadier, killing the driver.

Police said Brig Masood had entered property business after retirement. But the exact nature of his job could not be ascertained.

Police quoted a security guard, who witnessed the incident, as saying that the silver Honda intercepted the former army officer’s vehicle on the main road inside Block-H of DHA Phase II.

He said four armed men disembarked from the car and asked Brig (retired) Masood to surrender. When his driver Ahmad Hussain put up resistance, one of the gunmen shot him dead with a semi-automatic machinegun (SMG) and abducted the ex-army officer in their car.

Police investigation officer Mohammad Iqbal told Dawn that the deceased, a resident of Chakwal, had received six bullet wounds.

Habibullah Niazi, the subdivisional police officer of rural circle, said the incident occurred on the premises of the DHA where 36 security guards were deployed. He said one of the guards was on duty near the crime scene but he did not retaliate. However, the guard, identified as Jamil, aired a wireless message to his colleagues informing them about the incident and the car’s make and registration number.

Mr Niazi said visitors to the DHA were strictly monitored and verified before entry. “However, there was no record of the Honda in which the abductors had entered the premises.”

He said it was yet to be established whether the abductors had taken the former armyman out of the DHA premises or were still hiding inside. The investigators are verifying the status of the guards and interrogating them, he added.

The police officer said it was yet to be established whether the former army officer was kidnapped for ransom or due to his connection with the intelligence agency.

Superintendent of police, rural zone, Sardar Sadaqat, said DHA had seven entry points out of which only three were operational.

The investigators checked the record of all the three gates and the CCTV footages but could not spot the Honda entering or exiting from there, he added. In reply to a question, he said he was not aware of any threat to the retired brigadier.