NOWSHERA: Two brothers, one of them injured in a gun attack, and a hospital employee were killed as an attacker stormed the emergency ward of the Mian Rashid Hussain Shaheed Hospital in Pabbi here and opened indiscriminate firing on the injured man on Saturday.

The local police said the injured, Amir Nawaz, and his brother, Mir Bashir, were riding a motorcycle from the district courts in Nowshera to Jabba Daoudzai village, Akbarpura, when they were fired at allegedly by Shah Zahir.

They said Amir Nawaz was injured in the attack and his brother shifted him to the hospital.

The police said as the doctors were busy treating the injured, the alleged attacker showed up and began firing gunshots indiscriminately at them in the emergency ward.

They said the firing killed Mir Zaman, brother Mir Bashir and ward orderly Munir Khan on the spot, while Falak Niaz, another brother of Mir Zaman, also suffered injuries in the attack.

The police arrested a woman, Bano, stated to be a sister of gunman Shah Zahir. She accompanied the alleged attacker to the hospital.

The attacker escaped after firing, which caused panic in the hospital.

The hospital staff and relatives of the firing victims later placed the bodies on the GT Road outside the hospital and blocked the major road suspending traffic.

They protested the killings and demanded security for the hospital.

Pabbi SHO Shad Ali Khan allegedly beat up a hospital employee during the demonstration prompting doctors to decline postmortem.

However, they agreed to do the postmortem examination after five hours as the SHO apologised to the hospital staff for torture.

Local MPA Mian Khaliqur Rehman and Nowshera district health officer Dr Gulman Shah also reached the hospital and held talks with the hospital employees.

The police said the incident occurred as a result of old enmity as the arrested accused, Bano, with support of his brother killed her husband, Mir Nawaz.

They added that Bano had strained relations with Mir Nawaz and had been living with her father.

Published in Dawn, March 11th, 2018