Islamabad - Guards of an anti-Taliban village mayor in Pakistan's north-western city of Peshawar killed three assailants who attacked the mayor's house Sunday morning, police said. Local police officer Garanullah Khan said "several" gunmen, some disguised as women in head-to-toe burka, opened fire on the house of Mohammad Faheem in Badaber, a small village on the edge of Peshawar.
"Faheem's security men retailed and shot dead three attackers," Khan said by phone.
The mayor, who heads a local militia formed against the Taliban insurgents, has survived several attempts on his life.
"This (Sunday's) attack was carried out by Mangal Bagh and his fighters," Faheem told the private Geo News television channel.
Mangal Bagh's Lashkar-e-Islam militant group operates in Peshawar's adjoining Khyber tribal district, a lawless region also serving as the main land route for hauling supplies to the US and NATO forces stationed in Afghanistan.
A suicide bomber killed another anti-Taliban mayor along with at least a dozen people on the outskirts of Peshawar last weekend.
