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4 January 2011 Last updated at 19:33

In pictures: Salman Taseer assassinated in Islamabad

One of the most senior political figures in Pakistan - the governor of Punjab province, Salman Taseer - has been shot and killed in Islamabad by his bodyguard.

Mr Taseer, a member of the ruling Pakistan People's Party (PPP), was getting into his car at the busy Kohsar Market when the Elite Force commando fired several shots at close range.

Interior Minister Rehman Malik said the guard had confessed that he had killed Mr Taseer because of the governor's opposition to Pakistan's blasphemy law.

Mr Taseer had recently called for a Christian woman, sentenced to death for blasphemy, to be pardoned.

Friends of the governor say he knew Mr Taseer was risking his life by speaking out, but he pledged to keep fighting the blasphemy law. His daughter was one of those who gathered at the hospital in Islamabad where his body was taken.

The 主播大秀鈥檚 correspondent in Islamabad says the outspoken and liberal governor was one of Pakistan's best known politicians.

It is the most high profile assassination in Pakistan since the killing of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, the PPP's leader, in 2007.

The government has declared three days of national mourning and appealed for calm.

However, dozens of PPP supporters have already taken to streets in Lahore and elsewhere, in some cases burning tyres and blocking traffic in protest at the murder.

主播大秀

South Asia

In pictures: Salman Taseer assassinated in Islamabad

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