Killing of Pakistani journalist in Kenya was ‘targeted’ attack, minister says
The Pakistani national was shot at close range while he was riding his motorcycle in northern Kenya’s remote Arichage County
Zarar Ahmed, 40, was shot dead by gunmen on July 13, as he came to visit his mother at her hospital, his family said.
Kenya’s interior minister said the government was investigating whether the killing of Mr Ahmed was “targeted” or an accident.
But Mr Ahmed’s mother, Shazia, said she knew that her son, who was a dual citizen of Pakistan and the UK, had been targeted.
“Even now, I don’t believe he is coming back from that place,” she said after speaking to the Daily Telegraph’s editorial office in London.
“If this is a targeted attack and we are being targeted, then we have to fight back with all the power we have.”
After her son was shot seven times, she was taken to her village near the border with Tanzania, where she received treatment for her wounds.
Ms Ahmed, a school teacher, described how she had been preparing and packing his house when he arrived, because he was leaving for visit his mother.
“He asked for tea but I could get no water to pour for him,” she said.
She was on her way to collect him when she was attacked. “He was riding his motorcycle,” she told the Telegraph. “I was sitting on my bicycle about two kms away. He passed by me without a word. I was so surprised that he would not talk to me, and asked him where he was going to.”
Mr Ahmed’s family said he had been riding the bike for a few hours when he was shot at close range while he was descending a hill on a single-track road. Mr Ahmed was returning to Arichage from his mother’s hospital, where
