Gunmen kill Shahbaz Bhatti, Pakistan’s only Christian lawmaker (UPDATES) (VIDEO)

Gunmen killed Pakistan's only Christian cabinet member, Shahbaz Bhatti, on Wednesday outside his house in Islamabad, the second assassination this year of a top Pakistani official who had opposed the country's controversial blasphemy law.

Bhatti was an outspoken opponent of Pakistan's blasphemy law, which makes it a crime punishable by death to utter any derogatory remarks about, or insult in any way, the prophet Muhammad, the Koran or Islam.

As many as four men ambushed Bhatti as he left home without a security escort. Eyewitness and police said the gunmen dragged Bhatti out of his car and shot him several times before escaping in a white Suzuki vehicle, the Wall Street Journal reported. Bhatti was shot eight times and died on the spot.

No group immediately claimed responsibility, but the attackers left leaflets saying they had acted in the name of the Punjabi Taliban and al Qaeda, the Journal reported. "This is the horrible fate of this cursed person," read the leaflet. It also blamed the government of putting an "infidel Christian" in an important position.

BBC News, meanwhile, received a video of Bhatti in which he talks about his own assassination. In the video, released by the group First Step Forum and said to have been recorded four months ago, Bhatti says he is "ready to die" to defend the rights of minorities.

And U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Wednesday expressed outrage over the slaying of Bhatti, calling it an attack on the values of tolerance.

"I was shocked and outraged by the assassination," Clinton told a Senate committee, according to Agence France-Presse.

"I think this was an attack not only on one man but on the values of tolerance and respect for people of all faiths and backgrounds that had been championed by Mohammed Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan."

Bhatti, 42, a Catholic and former leader of Pakistan’s main minority-rights group, was killed eight weeks after the governor of Pakistan’s most populous province was shot to death by one of his bodyguards. 

On Jan. 4, Punjab governor Salman Taseer was assassinated in Islamabad by Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri, a 26-year-old police commando assigned to guard him. Qadri admitted killing Taseer because of Taseer's opposition to the blasphemy law.

When Qadri appeared in court, lawyers showered him with flower petals and kissed his cheeks, a reaction that caused many liberals in Pakistani society to worry that support for extremism had begun to seep into mainstream society.

In the hours after the shooting, nearly 2,000 Facebook users joined one group on the social networking site praising Qadri for shooting Taseer, and dozens of "fans" joined other pages set up in Qadri's honor.

Critics of the law say it can be exploited as a means to settle scores against adversaries or persecute minorities. Bhatti was head of a parliamentary committee examining misuse of the law.

Religious conservatives have used the blasphemy law to institute a “reign of terror” against minorities, the human rights commission said in a report, according to Bloomberg.

However, Qamar Zaman Kaira, a spokesman for the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party, said the government had no plans to reveal or amend the law.

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani “has clearly stated that his government will not change the blasphemy law …This chapter is closed for us,” Kaira said.

“Still, there are some elements in our society who want to spread anarchy by using this issue. This is a long war within our society and I think it will take a lot of sacrifices,” Kaira said.

The death of Taseer, 66, a stalwart of the ruling Pakistan People's Party, drove a government already reeling from defections of major coalition partners further into crisis. The death of Bhatti is likely to deepen the political instability. It also further complicates the role of the U.S. in Pakistan, according to the Journal.

Washington has strengthened ties with the government of President Asif Ali Zardari, including a massive new civilian aid package, but the Zardari government is increasingly unpopular, viewed as too pro-U.S. and secular by many Pakistanis.

The U.S. ambassador to Pakistan, Cameron Munter, in a statement condemned the killing of Bhatti, who he called a "Pakistani patriot and a voice for understanding."

— Freya Petersen