RAWALPINDI, March 16: Shots fired by an army guard at a taxi which ignored his signal to stop killed a cyclist near the army headquarters here on Wednesday.

“It was an accidental death, not a mistake of the army personnel,” said the military spokesman Maj Gen Athar Abbas, identifying the deceased as a non-combat employee of the army.

Other guards quickly moved in and intercepted the suspect taxi. Residents of RA Bazaar and surrounding area said the sound of gunfire and rush of security men caused fear and confusion in the early morning rush of traffic of office workers and schoolchildren.

Regional Police Officer Hamid Mukhtar Gondal identified the man killed 'mistakenly' in the incident as Jamil Ahmed who was on his way to his job as a sweeper in the army.

Maj Gen Abbas said the military police was investigating the incident and would proceed according to the military law as both the victim and the gunman were from the army.

Preliminary police investigations suggested that Lance Naik Shahid of MP-5 signalled the Suzuki taxi SLH-2950, carrying one passenger, to stop but the driver continued moving on. At that the soldier opened fire.

Other security staff rushed to block the taxi, fearing it might be carrying some terrorist on the run.

Neither the body of Jamil was handed to police nor were they aware of the fate of the two men seized from the taxi. It was also not known if any subversive material was found in the taxi.