04 November 2004	Thursday	20 Ramazan 1425

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KARACHI, Nov 3: One person was shot dead and two others were wounded when an unidentified man opened fire during prayers in a mosque in a shanty town of the Buffer Zone area on Wednesday morning.

North Nazimabad Town Police Officer Imran Ahmar claimed that it was not a terrorist incident and said: "It is probably an outcome of personal enmity."

Taimuria police said that some armed men came in a yellow cab at the Mohammadi mosque in Sector 15-B of Buffer Zone, known as Bengali Para.

One of the assailants entered the mosque and targeted the muezzin, Sajid Zaman. As a result of firing, Sajid Zaman and two others Mohammad Ismail and Farooque Siddiqui suffered bullet wounds. Ismail, 30, succumbed to multiple bullet wounds on the spot. The assailants sped away in the yellow cab.

Later, the deceased and the injured were shifted to a hospital. The condition of Sajid Zaman was stated to be serious, as he had also received multiple bullets.

TPO Imran Ahmar said that Ismail came in the line of firing and died. He was not the target.

He said if it would have been an act of terrorism, the assailants could open indiscriminate firing as there were 60 to 70 people offering prayer at that moment.

Police said that the statements of injured had been recorded and the evidence available on the spot had been collected to advance investigation and ascertain the cause of the attack.

Meanwhile, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement condemned the attack on the mosque and expressed sorrow over the death of an innocent Muslim.

The Muttahida coordination committee stated that the assailants, who were playing with the lives of innocent people by attacking mosques, could neither be Muslims nor human beings.

The committee demanded president, prime minister, governor, and chief minister to take serious notice of the incident; order immediate action.