HARIPUR A member of the NWFP assembly was shot dead and his security guard was wounded when two gunmen opened fire on them here on Wednesday evening.

Khalabat Township police and eyewitnesses said that Akhtar Nawaz Khan, who belonged to the Awami National Party, was attending the funeral of a councillor's mother when he and his guard were attacked.

They were taken to the Haripur DHQ hospital where the MPA was pronounced dead. His guard Aurangzeb was referred to the Ayub Medical Complex in Abbottabad in a critical condition.

Mr Akhtar Nawaz was on bail from the Peshawar High Court in a case relating to an incident of firing in February this year.

Police claimed to have arrested two suspects but did not disclose their identity.

Akhtar Nawaz, elected from PF 51 Haripur III in 2002, was minister for transport and fisheries in the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal government of Akram Khan Durrani.

He was re-elected from the same constituency in the February elections by securing highest number of votes in the province against Advocate Zulfiqar Ahmed Khan of the PML-N. He later joined the ANP.

In an FIR lodged on February 20 at the Khalabat Township police station, Advocate Zulfiqar Ahmed Khan accused Akhtar Nawaz Khan, his father Goher-ur-Rehman Khan, nephew Sami Ullah Khan, brothers Saeed Khan and Mehr Nishad Khan and uncle Jehanzeb Khan of firing on and injuring his uncle Haji Anwar Khan and seven other people. Haji Anwar died in hospital.

The police had registered a case under sections 302, 324, 348 and 149 of the Pakistan Penal Code and arrested Akhtar Nawaz, his son Babar Khan and Jehanzeb Khan.