PESHAWAR: Unknown gunmen on Friday shot dead a colonel of the Pakistan Army near Ring Road, police said.

According to police, Colonel Tariq Ghafoor was on his to a mosque for Friday prayer when unknown gunmen targeted him. The police say they have launched a search operation to arrest the attackers who managed to flee after executing the murder.

The investigators have yet to ascertain the motive behind the murder. The deceased was the son of Maj-Gen (retd) Fazal Ghafoor, who also served as Inspector General Frontier Corps between 1994-1997 and later as a diplomat, after retiring from military service.