Osama doc lawyer killed by gunmen in Peshawar

A former lawyer defending the Pakistani doctor, who helped the United States nab Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, has been killed by gunmen in the north-western city of Peshawar.

Samiullah Afridi was going back home in his car when unidentified assailants shot at his car. He later died, reported the BBC.

Afridi fled Pakistan in 2013 after receiving death threats from militants. He returned last year and said that he had stopped working on the doctor's case.

Two Taliban splinter groups claimed responsibility for the murder.

Dr Shakil Afridi is appealing against a 33-year-long life sentence imposed on him after a court found him guilty of collaborating with the Lashkar-e-Islam militant group in his native Khyber tribal region. However, many see his sentence as a punishment for helping the U.S.' Central Investigative Agency (CIA) in their hunt for Bin Laden.

He organised a fake vaccination programme aimed at gathering DNA samples from some of the residents at a compound where the former Al Qaeda chief was found.

The case strained tied between the U.S. and Pakistan, with American forces raiding the Abbottabad compound without permission from Islamabad.