RAWALPINDI: At least two people were killed and three injured after a passenger van was ambushed near Chontra on Friday, the police said.

The van carrying 15 passengers was on its way to Chontra from Rawalpindi when it was attacked by two men on motorcycles near the Dehri Village of Chontra.

A local of the area, Chaudhry Shaukat Ali, told Dawn: “One of the attackers looked like he was in his 30s and his accomplice, who was carrying a kalashnikov, looked to be in his 40s.”

The attackers are believed to have been waiting for the van in which their rivals were travelling. After stopping the vehicle, they first asked the driver to step down. They broke a window on the left side of the van and aimed at their rivals.

A police official said the men then opened fire, killing their rivals, Fazal Dad and Mohammad Ashraf, who were sitting in the front seat, on the spot and injured three others, including two women.

The dead and injured were moved to the District Headquarters Hospital.

A senior police official said: “The two men who were targeted were returning to their village after sitting in on a murder trial in Rawalpindi.”

City Police Officer (CPO) Israr Ahmed Abbasi told Dawn the motive behind the murder was old enmity.

“The attackers have been identified and live in the same village. Police reinforcements have been sent there to avoid clashes between the two families,” CPO Israr said.

Published in Dawn, January 16th, 2016