A secularist candidate in the Pakistani elections has been killed by the Taliban.

Fakhrul Islam was killed was killed on Thursday. On the same day, another secularist candidate narrowly escaped a bomb attack also directed at him by the Taliban. Mr. Islam was shot three times by two men on a motorbike and died instantly.

Pakistan's three main secular parties have been consistently targeted by the Taliban in the run up to the country's elections on the 11th of May. This election will mark the first transition from democratically-elected government to democratically-elected government in Pakistan's history.

"This isn't a fair election for us," a senior member of the Pakistan People's Party has stated. "Its a conspiracy to take away our mandate."

The Taliban have issued a statement in which they say they will continue to attack members of secularist political parties who "are the face of secular infidels."

The other politician targeted was the outgoin minister for agriculture Arbab Ayub Jan. His vehicle was damaged but he escaped uninjured.

The secularists claim that the goverment of Pakistan is not providing them with adequate security to cope with their precarious position.