HYDERABAD, Feb 22 Two fabric shops in Bara Market in Latifabad-2 were gutted by petrol pumps hurled by a group of armed people on Sunday.

The shops — Adil and China silk centres — were burnt but their owners remained unhurt.

According to witnesses, six armed motorcyclists threw petrol bomb bottles on the shops and fired in the air.

Quoting a witness an area resident said that miscreants had switched-off the engine of their bikes quite comfor- tably and stayed there for a couple of minutes before resorting to aerial firing.

They fired on a man, who had started running after seeing them.

But he remained unhurt. “Then they threw the bottles on the shops which were located opposite to each other”.

“No such incident took place in this area even in worst of times when the city was hit by ethnic riots”, said the resident.

The hair of a shopkeeper were brunt while he was trying to extinguish the fire.

The incident caused harassment and panic in the area and shopkeepers pulled their shutters in fear. District Nazim Kanwar Naveed Jamil also arrived in the area along with Latifabad Taluka Nazim Sabir Kaimkhani and UC nazim Amjad Hussain.

Fire brigade and Edhi ambulances and a heavy contingent of police also reached there. Police made inquiries from area people but could not got any clue of the culprits.

One of the shop owners Nawab Khan has lodged an FIR with the Hussainabad police station. The district nazim directed police to ensure arrest of miscreants who were out to destroy peace of the city.

He also promised his full cooperation to the owners of the affected shops and said that miscreants would be brought to book.

SPO Qasimabad Zulfikar Pathan confirmed that police found one pistol and a Mol- otov cocktail which couldn`t be used.

He said that he was unaware of any scuffle over eve-teasing in the area but he would verify it. He said that fabric had been burnt while shops` structure was also gutted.