LAHORE: Unidentified car riders opened fire on a bus carrying girl students of a private college and injured two of them at Rohi Nullah of Mohlanwal.

Of the two girls, Ayesha received a bullet injury to her head and Nimra to her abdomen and both were rushed to a local hospital where the condition of the former was said to be critical as the doctors put her on a ventilator.

There were conflicting reports about the motive behind the firing when it was declared a targeted attack.

However, Lahore DIG investigation Imran Kishwar declared that it seemed to be a ‘road rage incident’ as was evident from the crime scene and some eyewitnesses. He said all the buses were on a recreational trip to Kashmir.

According to the initial reports, as many as eight vehicles of Punjab College located at Pattoki (Kasur) were carrying female students at the time when the armed men opened fire on one of them.

The suspects began to chase the buses when they crossed Kasur district’s boundary and entered Lahore.

A police official said as the buses reached Rohi Nullah of Mohlanwal area, the driver of a bus decelerated the vehicle when the suspected car riders came in front of it probably to terrorise or warn the driver.

On that occasion, he said, the bus driver and the car riders also exchanged some hot words when it was moving.

Reportedly, the car occupants had signalled the bus driver to stop the vehicle, he said adding that he ignored the suspects and crossed their car to avoid any untoward happening because of the presence of girls.

Following the situation, one of the motorists opened fire from the moving car and the bullets hit the backside of the bus.

One of the bullets smashed the back mirror of the bus and injured two students.

The DIG investigation said the suspects had fled the scene shortly after the incident.

He said five police teams have been formed and dispatched to trace the car riders.

To a question, he said the suspects were using Wagon R and expressed the hope that it would be traced soon.

The Sundar police lodged a case against the suspects on the complaint of injured girl Ayesha’s brother Suleman.

In the FIR, he said all the students belonged to the Punjab College, Pattoki, and they were going for a trip to Kashmir.

Published in Dawn, November 29th, 2023