Gunmen shot dead a Catholic Pakistani government minister yesterday, after he had vowed to defy death threats following the murder of another politician opposed to an Islamic blasphemy law.

In broad daylight, unknown assailants sprayed at least 25 bullets on the car of minorities minister Shahbaz Bhatti after he came out of his mother’s home in a residential area of Islamabad, police said.

“Three or four armed men riding in a white Suzuki car intercepted his official vehicle,” city police chief Wajid Durrani told reporters.

“The attackers were clad in shawls and fired bursts on him, and he died,” Mr Durrani said.

The police chief insisted that Mr Bhatti, 42, had been provided with proper security, but said the minister was not accompanied by his security detail when the attack happened.

“The squad officer told me that the minister had directed him to wait for him at his office. He used to often visit his mother’s house without a squad,” Mr Durrani said. “We are investigating the matter from different angles.”

Local resident Naseem Ahmed said the firing continued for about 30 seconds.

“We came out of our home after hearing the gunfire, we saw the car, it was badly damaged. We saw the minister, he was rushed to hospital in a critical condition,” Mr Ahmed told reporters.

Mr Bhatti was dead on arrival at Islamabad’s Shifa hospital, doctor Azmatullah Qureshi confirmed. Police said his body was riddled with at least eight bullets.

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani visited the hospital and offered condolences to Bhatti’s grieving relatives.

“Such acts will not deter the government?s resolve to fight terrorism and extremism,” he said, adding that the killers would not go unpunished.

Mr Bhatti, a member of Pakistan’s tiny Christian community, had been a vocal opponent of the controversial blasphemy law along with the liberal late governor of Punjab province, Salman Taseer.