LAHORE: Three employees of a bank were shot dead while four others were injured by a clerk of a college at Karim Block Market, Iqbal Town, on Thursday.

The attacker, identified as Abdullah, 35, a clerk of the Government College of Science, Wahdat Road, was killed in an ‘encounter’ a couple of hours after the incident.

Iqbal Town Division Superintendent of Police (SP) Muhammad Iqbal told Dawn the incident took place when armed Abdullah attacked the employees of Bank of Punjab’s Wahdat Road branch with a Kalashnikov for reporting his malpractices.

“Abdullah had fraudulently encashed some cheques of the college through fake signatures which were pointed out by an audit team,” the SP alleged.

Police kill arrested attacker in ‘encounter’ few hours later

He said operations manager Nasir Tahir, 50, officer Mian Sohail Hasan, 50, and security guard Muhammad Khalid, 42, were killed while Hafiz Hasan, Sidra, Zobia and Sikandar, all employees of the bank, suffered bullet injuries.

He said the shooter, after consuming his bullets, attempted to escape but a security guard nabbed him after a brief chase. The attacker also attempted to snatch the gun from the guard and got a bullet wound during the scuffle.

A bank official, on the condition of anonymity, said Abdullah had come to the Wahdat Road branch to get new currency notes for Eid. He had an exchange of harsh words with the bank officials, including the operations manager, when they refused to give him new currency notes. He said Abdullah, who would often visit the bank, came back after an hour with the weapon and opened fire on the staff.

Another security guard, Usman, told Dawn they were on duty when Abdullah came and opened indiscriminate fire on them. He first killed the security guard, shot the operations manager dead and then sprayed bullets on other employees, said Usman.

“As the shooter opened fire, I lay down on the ground and he shot at me but the bullet didn’t hit me. I ran towards the road to save my life,” he said.

Usman said he called police helpline 15 and after some time Gulshan-i-Iqbal police reached the scene and took the attacker into custody.

The injured were taken to the Jinnah Hospital where doctors pronounced Tahir, Hasan and Khalid dead. The four injured people are said to be out of danger.

Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Amin Wains reached the spot and told the journalists the shooting might have been an outcome of a personal dispute or grudge. He said the attacker had left his gun on the spot before fleeing. A guard of a nearby bank chased him and subdued him.

The CCPO said the attacker was wounded during the pursuit before he was handed over to police. Later, police took Abdullah to the place from where he had got the Kalashnikov. Abdullah tried to snatch the gun from a policeman standing near him, leading to a scuffle. At this, the police opened fire on him and killed him on the spot.

Ruling out robbery as a motive behind the incident, he said the college and the assailant both were account-holders and regular customers of the branch. A further probe into the matter is under way.

Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif took notice of the incident and sought a report from the CCPO.

Published in Dawn, July 10th, 2015

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