US Embassy employee gunned down in Pakistan

Police say gunmen have killed a local employee of the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad, though a motive for the attack is still unclear.

Police identified the dead employee as Iqbal Baig, saying he worked for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency. They say Baig was killed early Sunday morning at his home.

Pakistani mourners carry the casket of US embassy employee Iqbal Baig after his funeral prayers in Islamabad on July 26, 2015.

The U.S. Embassy did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Pakistani police officer Khalid Awan, who confirmed Baig’s slaying, said U.S. Embassy security officials had visited the crime scene.

Baig belonged to a minority Muslim Shiite sect known as the Ismaili. Ismailis largely live in peace in Sunni-dominated Pakistan, though Islamic extremists in the country view Shiites as heretics. Gunmen in May shot and killed 50 Ismailis in the southern port city of Karachi.