Islamabad:
Gunmen on Thursday kidnapped the son of a former Pakistani prime minister who is also standing in the country's elections, police said. His secretary Mohiyuddin and bodyguard were wounded and later died, Pakistani TV news channels reported. Five others were injured in the attack.
27-year-old Ali Haider Gilani was seized on the outskirts of the central city of Multan. Former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and his kin are one of the most powerful families in the area.
"People came on a motorbike. They also had a car with them and they opened fire and abducted Yousuf Raza Gilani's son Ali Haider in a black Honda," police officer Khurram Shakur told reporters. "We have closed the entry-exit points and launched a search," he said.
Another police officer, Ghulam Mohammad Dogar confirmed the abduction. "It is definitely an act of terrorists," he told reporters.
An eyewitness told Geo News channel that the gunmen came to the spot in a car and fired indiscriminately at Ali Haider Gilani's supporters. He said he had seen the gunmen bundle Haider into a car and drive away. The gunmen kept firing as they drove away, the witness said.
The incident happened in the Matital area on the last day of official campaigning for Saturday's election, which will mark a landmark democratic transition in a country that has been ruled for half its life by the military.
Provincial elections are also being held and Ali Haider is a candidate for the secular Pakistan People's Party in the provincial assembly of Punjab.
He has two other brothers standing for the national assembly. Footage on television showed Ali Moosa Gilani, another of the former prime minister's sons, crying and trying to control irate workers of the Pakistan People's Party.
Gilani senior was disqualified after being sacked and indicted by the Supreme Court last year for refusing to reopen corruption cases against the president.
The banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan has warned it will target secular parties like the Pakistan People's Party and Awami National Party ahead of the May 11 general election.
The threats have forced the parties to virtually stop campaigning for the polls