Pop singer shot dead in Pakistan

Peshawar, Pakistan - A popular singer from Pakistan who fled the Taliban to pursue his music career away from the pressure they were shot dead in the northwestern city of Peshawar, police said Tuesday.

Ghazala Javed, 24, was shot six times by gunmen as he left the beauty salon, though police did not believe the Taliban are responsible for the killings and said that her ex-husband is a suspect in the case.

His father, who was with him, also died, police said.

"Two men on a motorbike memberondongkan bullets and fled from them in a pool of blood," said senior police officer Dilawar Bangash told AFP.

He was shot six times and his father once in the head, said Bangash said.

"We have registered the case and launched investigations. Murder is apparently the result of some internal disputes," he added.

Police officer Imtiaz Khan said her ex-husband suspected of involvement in the murder.

The singer has fled to Peshawar in 2009 after the Taliban dominates the northwestern district of Swat as troops launched a furious attack.

From 2007 to 2009, Taliban fighters are controlled by hardline cleric Maulana Fazlullah effectively controlled the district, terrorizing people with murder, beheadings, attacks on girls' schools and music stores.

Singer and dancer so special option to soldiers

reaffirmed their control in July 2009, and won praise from the United States to eliminate the threat that the group of 100 kilometers (60 miles) from the capital Islamabad.

Javed sing in their mother tongue Pashto, and released more than two dozen albums that are popular among Pashtun speakers in the northwest.

He is married to businessman Jahangir Khan in 2010, but demanded a divorce after finding out he had another wife and because he tried to ban him sing, said the family.

It is very rare for women in the northwest are very conservative and to ask for a divorce under Islamic law men can have up to four wives at a time.