Pakistani Taliban kill former police officer in Quetta

QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) - Pakistani police say gunmen have shot dead a former senior police officer in a drive-by shooting in the southwestern city of Quetta.

Quetta police chief Abdur Razzaq Cheema said the assailants in the Saturday attack fled the scene on motorcycles after critically wounding Naeem Kakar in the Zarghoon road area of the provincial capital of Quetta.

Kakar was the former deputy inspector general of the Baluchistan provincial police's crime unit, which has been instrumental in combatting the area's terrorists and hardened criminals.

The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility the attack. Taliban spokesman Mohammad Khurasani said attacks on police will continue to avenge arrests and killings of members of his group.

Baluchistan has also been the scene of a low-level insurgency by Baluch separatist groups.