RAWALPINDI, July 10: A police inspector and his guard were shot dead in, what appeared to be, a terrorist attack by two unidentified persons riding a motorbike in Afshan Colony here on Saturday.

Inspector Raja Saqlain, the station house officer of Westridge police station, left his Afshan Colony residence along with his guard-cum driver Altaf Hussain in his car (IDG-5509) for police station at around 9.15 am. Altaf Hussain, head-constable, was Mr Saqlain's nephew.

The police inspector had to appear before the anti-terrorist court for cross-examination in Shah Najaf case.

Assistant Superintendent of Police, Cantonment Circle, Khurram Sultan said two unidentified persons riding a motorcycle, one of them bearded and tall wearing Shalwar Kameez, came in front of the car and started firing with AK-47 assault rifle. As the driver lost control of the car due to intense firing, it veered off the road.

The attackers then moved towards the back side of the car and continued firing till both the police officials died. The ASP said that a vendor, who had been near the place of occurrence, was missing. "Probably, the vendor was their accomplice and he had been watching Saqlain's movement and finally they targeted him," he said.

Quoting some eye-witnesses, the ASP said that the attackers escaped on a motorbike whose registration plate was unreadable.

The area markets were closed soon after the terrorist attack, while police sealed off the city to hunt down the criminals.

A source said when Raja Saqlain's car reached near the vendor, a man, who had been described as tall and slim, appeared on scene and pushed the cart towards the car causing it to stop. In the meantime, two other persons carrying assault rifles started firing on the car from the back killing both the police officials on the spot.

Raja Saqlain had been on the terrorists hit-list since he started investigating high-profile terrorist cases. He had been very close to concluding the investigation into the December 25 terrorist attack on the presidential convoy.

Talking to reporters after saying the funeral prayers of the police officials, Punjab Law minister Basharat Raja said it was an act of terrorism. However, no group has claimed the attack so far. He said it would be premature to link attack on policemen with terrorist attacks on President Musharraf.