DERA ISMAIL KHAN, May 31: Two men riding a motor cycle on Friday shot dead a prayer leader when he was going home after Isha prayers, in the Cantonment police area.

The motorcyclists shot dead Hafiz Luqman outside the Sodais mosque in the Yasinabad area.

The prayer leader was a resident of Wana in South Waziristan.

Soon after the incident, city markets and business centres were closed.

It sent a wave of shock and awe across the city, which had been witnessing sectarian violence.

Last week, seven people were shot dead in different parts of the city. The Cantonment police termed it targeted killing.

The area SHO told journalists that police were making efforts to arrest those involved in sectarian killings.

District Nazim Abdur Rauf said they would not allow miscreants to turn the city into a battleground.

Criticising the murder of the prayer leader, MPA Khalifa Abdul Qayum asked police to arrest the killers of Hafiz Luqman and other people killed in the city.