Suspected Taliban gunmen have brutally murdered a Pakistani former lawyer who represented the doctor that helped the United States track down Al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden . Senior police officer Shakir Khan said unidentified assailants shot and killed Samiullah Khan Afridi this morning in the northwestern city of Peshawar before fleeing the scene . Although the Pakistani Taliban have not yet claimed responsibility , they are considered the most likely candidates for an attack that took place close to the border with Afghanistan , in the terrorist organisation 's heartland and just over 100 miles from Bin Laden 's Abbottabad compound . Scroll down for video . Victim : Senior police officer Shakir Khan said unidentified assailants shot and killed Samiullah Khan Afridi ( pictured ) this morning in the northwestern city of Peshawar before fleeing the scene . Tragic : Relatives wipe away their tears as they move the body of Samiullah Afridi at a hospital in Peshawar . The lawyer was killed just months after he announced that he will no longer be representing Dr. Shakil Afridi Afridi . The doctor was convicted in May 2012 of 'conspiring against the state ' by giving money and providing medical treatment to militants , not for helping the CIA track down Bin Laden . Samiullah Khan Afridi left Pakistan in November after receiving threats from Taliban militants . Investigating Officer Khan says the lawyer recently came back from abroad , adding that the motive for the killing was not immediately known . The murder came on the same day as Pakistani officials executed 12 people in the country 's single-largest day of executions since a moratorium on the death penalty was lifted in December . Campaign : Friends and supporters of Dr Afridi say he has been pursued by the Pakistani government because officials were embarrassed and angered by the killing of Bin Laden . Targeted : Unidentified gunmen shot and killed the former lawyer for the Pakistani doctor who helped the US find Osama bin Laden . Shot : An ambulance takes the body of Samiullah Afridi , lawyer of Dr. Shakil Afridi , accused of running a fake vaccination campaign to get DNA of al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden on behalf of the CIA . Comfort : People console a family member of the Pakistani lawyer Samiullah Khan Afridi who was killed today . Mourning : Hospital staff and family members carry the body of Samiullah Khan Afridi into an ambulance . Hiding in plain sight : Osama Bin Laden lived in this fortified compound , sending messages via couriers . Terrorist : Dr Shakil Afridi took DNA from Osama Bin Laden allowing CIA to identify him in 2011 . The executions are sure to raise concerns over due process and proper oversight of the country 's troubled criminal justice system , which rights groups say often does little to protect defendants . Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif lifted the moratorium on December 17 , a day after Pakistani Taliban gunmen attacked a school and killed 134 students and 19 adults . The killings put pressure the government to do more to tackle the Islamist insurgency and the current wave of executions are a continuation of Pakistan 's crackdown on the Taliban . Authorities at different jails in the country 's largest province of Punjab today hanged 10 people who had been sentenced to death in murder cases , said the provincial Home Minister Shuja Khanzada . He said authorities planned to execute more convicted criminals in the coming weeks , adding : 'We have started a process , and it will continue . ' The superintendent of the main jail in the southern port city of Karachi , Qazi Nazir , said they executed two convicted murderers and handed their bodies over to their families . Late last year , Pakistan 's prime minister lifted the death-penalty moratorium specifically for terror-related cases after the December Taliban attack on a school in Peshawar killed 153 people , most of them children . Last week , in a controversial step , the government completely lifted the death-penalty ban for all cases . Human rights groups estimate Pakistan has roughly 8,000 prisoners on death row .
Samiullah Khan Afridi was shot dead this morning in the city of Peshawar . Pakistani Taliban - who threatened lawyer last year - are the prime suspects . Afridi recently quit as lawyer for a doctor who helped the US find Bin Laden . Dr Shakil Afridi took DNA from terrorist allowing CIA to identify him in 33 years . But a year later Pakistan jailed him for 2011 for 'helping ' the militants .