PESHAWAR: Unidentified assailants gunned down an ice cream vendor in Jangi Mohallah area of the city on Friday, while another person sustained injuries in the attack.

A police official at the Khan Raziq police station told Dawn that Qaiser Raza, a resident of Wazirabad, Gujranwala, was living in the city for the past several years and used to work as ice cream vendor in Mohallah Jangi area. He said that four persons opened pistol fire on Mr Raza when he was busy in his work.

He said that Mr Raza and another teenager, identified as Ghayasuddin, sustained injuries in the attack. Later, Mr Raza succumbed to his injuries at the Lady Reading Hospital.

Khan Raziq police station SHO Hameed Khan told Dawn that apparently it was an incident of targeted killing, as Qaisar was from Shia sect. However, he said that they were looking into this incident from various angles. The Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) registered an FIR and has started investigation.

The death of Mr Raza sparked a protest from the area residents who blocked the GT Road near Firdous Chowk for over an hour. A traffic police official told Dawn that the residents were protesting against the LRH doctors, saying that Raza died due to their negligence. He said that the road was opened after the administration officials held talks with protesters.

LRH spokesperson Jamil Shah told Dawn that a large number of people followed the injured to the hospital, creating problems for the medics and that was why police forced them out of the hospital and later these people staged a protest against the police and hospital administration. Mr Shah said that there was no negligence on the part of hospital staff.

Published in Dawn September 12th, 2015

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