May 31, 2007	Thursday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 14, 1428

LAHORE, May 30: At least two dozen people, including seven policemen, sustained injuries in a stampede at a gate of the Badshahi Masjid here on Wednesday. Police said the incident occurred when people in large numbers were trying to come out of one of the iron gates of the mosque opposite Attique Stadium after offering Maghrib prayers led by Imam-i-Kaaba.

According to witnesses, most of the injured were those who wanted to have a glimpse of the Imam as he left the mosque premises after leading the prayers.

“People began to scale an iron fence to have a glimpse of the Imam and it landed, under their collective wait, on those standing on the other side,” an eyewitness said.

Many people fell on the ground and some of them were got trampled under the feet of others who were trying to come out of the mosque, he said, adding many others fainted due to suffocation.

Ravi Town SP Gohar Nafees claimed that the accident occurred when a crowded mosque gate crashed, resulting in a stampede.

According to Mayo Hospital officials, the injured were identified as ASI Mehmood Butt, Pervez, Aslam, Ali Shafeeq, Ashfaq Hussain, Noman and constables Majid Ali, Irfan, Abdul Waheed, Ashfaq, Sajid Ali and Umer Hayat.

Aamir, Hafiz Rehan, Maqsood, Ahsaan, Rehan, ASI Abdul Waheed, Shafee Muhammad were also injured.