LAHORE, Dec 12: Rivals allegedly shot dead on Sunday a man and injured four others, including a minor girl, over a monetary dispute in Batapur.

Police said Muhammad Zahid and his son-in-law Muhammad Abid, of Bhatta Chowk, had a monetary dispute with Nazar Iqbal and Amjad.

Both parties had scuffled over the issue time and again.

Quoting victim families, police said Nazar Iqbal opened fire with the connivance of his accomplices injuring Zahid, Abid, and their relatives Mukhtar, Sumeera and seven-year-old Fatima and fled the scene.

The injured were rushed to hospital where Zahid was pronounced dead while condition of one of the others was said to be critical.

Locals of the area, including relatives of the deceased, staged a protest demonstration against the police for a delayed reaction to the incident.

The police sent the body to the city morgue for autopsy and registered a case against the assailants.

Cylinder blast: Five people were injured when a gas cylinder exploded after a fire broke out at a shop on Bund Road near Islampura.

The shopkeepers and visitors who suffered minor injuries were Amir, Imran, Irfan, Anayat and Bilal Khan. They were shifted to hospitals for treatment.

The Rescue 1122 and the police said a fire erupted at an LPG cylinder shop owned by Rana Mudassir. Someone threw a cigarette which caused the incident, they said, adding that the locals were trying to put out the fire when a cylinder exploded. The fire-fighters extinguished the flames within an hour. gas leak: Three minors fainted due to suffocation caused by gas cylinder leakage at Mian Plaza, Jauhar Town, on Sunday night.

They were shifted to Lahore General Hospital where their condition was stated to be stable.