 This is the first picture of the man gunned down in an execution-style killing as he worked out at a city gym. Police today released the photograph of Azmat Yaqub as it emerged the 35-year-old had survived a previous assassination attempt on his life. Murder detectives will be looking to see if there are any links between the brutal slaying of Mr Yaqub and the earlier attempt which saw his best friend killed. Mr Yaqub was blasted in the head and chest as he worked out in the Chic Physique Health and Fitness Gym, in Foremans Road, Sparkhill, on Thursday. It is understood his partner had only given birth two weeks ago. Mourners were gathered yesterday outside the family home in Yardley where his parents were being comforted. They were too distraught to talk. Detectives said they were trying to establish a motive for Thursday's shooting close to a children's kick-boxing class. It is thought the gang of between two and four men may have been searching for Mr Yaqub for some time. Police said they were trying to trace a light-coloured saloon car that "appeared new, or was clean" and was seen in the area. The gunman was thought to have been white. Eighteen months ago, Mr Yaqub and his friend Shaham Ali were ambushed in a drive-by shooting in Waverley Road, Small Heath. Mr Ali, aged 31, was blasted in the head and later died in hospital, while Mr Yaqub was hit in the shoulder. It was thought the shooting was a terrifying conclusion to a row between two factions at Birmingham's Central Mosque. Six men were arrested in connection with the shooting and a mosque secretary alleged false imprisonment. Mohammed Sharafit Khan, 31, of Fitters Mill Close, Balsall Heath, and his brother Mohammed Arshad Khan, 30, of Princess Road, Edgbaston, were cleared by a Birmingham Crown Court of murder and attempted murder. Dr Mohammed Naseem, the chairman of the mosque, said Mr Yaqub used to be a member of the congregation, but had not been for a long time. "He was working far away." | 
