PESHAWAR A member of a banned extremist group was killed in an apparent sectarian attack in Dera Ismail Khan, police and witnesses said.

Abu Khan, an activist from Sipah-i-Sahaba Pakistan, was near his shop on the outskirts of DIK when two gunmen opened fire and escaped on their motorbike, witnesses told AFP.

Abu Khan and a boy in the street were wounded. Both were taken to hospital where Abu Khan died, local police official Rasheed Khan said.

`He was an active member of Sipah-i-Sahaba,` the police official said. `It seems to be a sectarian killing,` he added.

Dera Ismail Khan, a gateway to the Taliban tribal stronghold of South Waziristan, is a flashpoint for violence between Shias and Sunnis.

Mondays attack was the third deadly shooting in the town in nine days.

There have been no arrests so far in connection with the killings.