Firing incidents in Rawalpindi claim seven lives

Firing incidents in Rawalpindi late Friday claimed at least seven lives, police and hospital sources said.

Miscreants attacked a mosque and a cloth market in busy Raja Bazar area of Rawalpindi when the procession of Yaum-e-Ashur was peacefully passing through the area.

Troops were called out to restore peace as the police and the paramilitary soldiers were unable to deal with the miscreants.

Some witnesses said that several participants in the procession started firing after people on the rooftops fired in the air.

Doctors at the city’s main hospital confirmed seven people dead and over 30 other were injured.

Some unidentified people also beat press photographers and cameramen and broke their cameras, media groups said.

Police officers were also beaten and reportedly some miscreants snatched guns from some of the police officers.

Troops evacuated people from the mosque and the marketplace and shifted them to safe places. They had been stuck up in the firing.

Fire fighters were called to control the blaze at the cloth market. Witnesses said that fire gutted nearly 100 shops.

Some participants in the Muharram procession said that when they reached Raja Bazaar area, some unidentified persons threw stones at the procession and later people at the nearby building started firing from the rooftop.

The firing created panic among the people and they started running to safe places.

The paramilitary soldiers and the police intervened to stop firing but they failed to control the situation. The local authorities sought help of the army and troops later took positions and restored normalcy.

 
Terrorists burnt a mosque in Rawalpindi's busy Raja Bazar and attacked shops Friday evening after firing took place during the Muharram's procession, witnesses said.

Police sources confirmed three people were killed during the firing. It was not clear as to who started firing. Residents said that people were firing from the roofs of buildings in the area.

Sources said that army was called out to restore peace as the police had failed to deal with the miscreants.

Some of the terrorists attacked a mosque and shops and they also beat press photographers and cameramen. Some cameras were also broken.

Angry mob also beat police officers who were deployed for security of the main yaum-e-Ashur procession.

Some reports said that the troops evacuated people from the mosque and shifted them to safe places.