A Pakistani provincial government minister has been shot dead in the insurgency-hit southwestern province of Baluchistan.

The shooting took place in Quetta city in front of his house on Sunday.

Shafiq Ahmed was Education Minister in Baluchistan and a member of the ruling Pakistan People's Party (PPP).

His father-in-law was also injured in the drive-by shooting incident.

Local militant group Baluchistan Liberation United Front claimed responsibility for the assassination in a telephone call to a local news agency.

Sunday's shooting was the latest in a series of attacks on provincial officials in the region. In August, Sardar Rustam Khan Jamali, Baluchistan Minister for Excise and Taxation, was killed after unknown gunmen attacked his vehicle.

Hundreds of people have lost their lives in the restive province since 2004, when Baluch rebels took up arm against the central government, demanding political autonomy and a greater share of profits from the region's wealth of natural resources.

HE/AKM