Gunmen shot dead a US aid official along with his driver as he left his home in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar on Wednesday, a senior police official said. The attack took place in a neighbourhood favoured by diplomats and foreign aid workers.

"As he was coming out of his home, the attackers opened fire on him and killed him along with his driver," the police official, who requested anonymity said. "He was working for US aid projects for tribal areas," he added.

US embassy officials in Islamabad were not immediately available for comment.

Abdul Qadir, a superintendent of police, told private ‘Samaa’ television a foreigner had been killed but he could not disclose the name of the man.

He said police had "close camera shots of the assailants" and had launched a search and cordon operation.

Violence has surged in the northwest where Islamist militants have unleashed a wave of bomb and suicide attacks in recent months, while US missile strikes in the trbal lands bordering Afghanistan have fuelled anti-American sentiment.