Guns and grenades: Two including prayer leader killed

Police said locals tried to intercept but attackers lobbed a grenade at the crowd which left six people injured.

MANSEHRA:

Two people, including a prayer leader, were killed and six others injured in a brazen gun and grenade attack at Baidra Chowk, Mansehra on Friday night.

According to police, Maulana Zubair, a cleric from Swabi, was the target of the attack orchestrated by unidentified people. Zubair was heading to Sunehri Masjid in his car to lead taraweeh prayers when the attackers opened fire at his vehicle. Zubair died on the spot, along with a passer-by identified as Khalid, who was also caught in the line of fire.

Police said locals tried to intercept the attackers but they lobbed a grenade at the crowd which left six people injured, following which they escaped.

Three injured people were identified as Shabbir, Zubair and Zareen while the identity of the three others had not been ascertained till the filing of this report.

The dead and the wounded were shifted to King Abdul Teaching Hospital.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 20^th, 2014.