RAWALPINDI, April 1: A wagon driver and two passengers were shot dead on Pirwadhai Road on Thursday night. District Police Officer Syed Moravat Ali Shah said it did not appear to be an act of terrorism.

An eyewitness said a passenger wagon (AKA-1567) was going to Fatehjang from Pirwadhai. When it reached near British Homes (on Pirwadhai Road), two of the passengers asked the driver to stop the vehicle as they wanted to disembark.

"As the wagon stopped, the men got out and opened fire on the passengers," ASP Cantonment Khurram Sultan quoted one of the survivors, Khushhal Khan. However, the ASP was of the view that the firing was opened from inside the vehicle by a man who later escaped. "There were no bullet holes on the vehicle which shows that the fire was opened from inside," he said.

Police said two of the victims died on the spot while the third one expired before reaching hospital. The victims were shifted to the District Headquarters Hospital in the same vehicle.

The deceased were identified as Mohammad Adil, a railway carriage factory worker; driver Mohammad Basharat and Sarwar, a passenger. Saeedur Rehman, the wagon conductor, told reporters that the two men had boarded the wagon near the Railway Carriage Factory, saying that they wanted to go to Peshawar Road. He said soon after disembarking from the vehicle, the men pulled out pistols and opened fire on the passengers.

A REPORTER ADDS: Auto-thieves struck at two places in Islamabad on Thursday, police said. Mohammad Jaffer lodged an FIR with Secretariat police that unidentified men hijacked his car (PL-1092) in Rawal Town.